Financier Yoshiaki Murakami's bid to influence the Hanshin Tigers after recently becoming their parent firm's top shareholder has drawn public attention not only to his acquisitions, but also to the way that Japan's professional baseball teams are being run.
The baseball season has entered its final phase in both Japan and the United States, and some of the Japanese players in Major League Baseball are making headlines as their teams try to get into the World Series. People in Japan are waiting to see who will emerge from the Pacific League to face the Hanshin Tigers in the Japan Series.
It seems many Japanese baseball fans have long held the impression that U.S. baseball is fundamentally different from Japanese baseball. I believe this impression has been reinforced in recent years by the showing of MLB games here via satellite.