The Japan Professional Baseball Players Association showed rare backbone two years ago when, in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the players banded together and succeeded in getting the start of the season pushed back as the nation dealt with the disaster.
This past summer JPBPA rallied together again, this time in opposition to what it felt was the unfair way money was divvied up among the participating nations of the World Baseball Classic. Despite Japan's standing as the two-time defending champion of the event, and NPB's agreement to participate in 2013, the players voted to skip the WBC unless their demands were met. They eventually ended up with a few concessions from NPB and reversed course a few months later.
Now there is a new challenge on the horizon.