Yesterday, I wrote about the history behind how the styles of baseball in Japan and the United States have diverged so much over the years.

Today, I’d like to write about how Japanese culture has forced Japanese to approach the game so differently.

When I first came to Japan, baseball fans said the Japanese game was detail-oriented while MLB baseball was about power and speed. For a long time, I saw this as a way of complimenting both baseball brands, but after joining the media, I began hearing some managers imply that MLB players were good, only because they were more physically gifted, and not because they worked hard – like Japanese.

The work ethic here is different than it is in America, and Japanese baseball reflects this.

Japan’s obsession with meticulous attention to detail is referred to as “kodawari.”

Continue reading It’s all in the details →