Japan has always produced good pitchers.

The country's first major leaguer, Masanori Murakami, was a pitcher; its second was Hideo Nomo, a right-hander with a strange tornado-style delivery who swept the U.S. up in Nomomania during the summer of 1995 and became the catalyst for the current migration of Japanese stars to the majors; while today, Yu Darvish is among the more notable players in MLB.

That's to say nothing of the legions of Japanese pitching greats who stayed home.