For many baseball players who make the long slog through the minors in an effort to earn a job in MLB, Japan becomes the next best thing — not what they dreamed of but high level competition in front of good crowds.

Seibu Lions pitcher Bo Takahashi, however, grew where the ethnic Japanese community has made Sao Paulo Brazil’s baseball hot bed. For him Japanese baseball was the thing.

“I always wanted to play here in Japan since I was a kid,” the 26-year-old Brazilian right-hander said at Seibu Dome. “In my childhood, I grew up watching Japanese baseball. My idol was Daisuke Matsuzaka, so I grew up watching him with Seibu. Talking to Seibu and being here with Seibu is a blessing.”