WEBVTT - What are the Greatest Things We Just Learned about Japan? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.600 Guess what, Mango, what's that? Well, I know we've been 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:04.520 competing this week to see who could come up with 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:07.720 the best what's big in Japan? Thing? But I actually 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.240 have saved one for you. And did you know that 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.640 adult adoption is actually a pretty big thing in Japan. 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:18.000 In fact, most adoptions in Japan are adult adoptions. So 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.119 I don't think I even know what that means exactly. Well, 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.680 you know, sometimes it has to do with inheritance. So 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:25.599 say you've got a business owner who wants to keep 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.080 his business in the family, but I don't know, maybe 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.440 he thinks his kids are too lazy or not smart 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:33.080 enough to take it over. So the owner might select 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.519 an executive from that company and just adopt them, you know, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.040 like to keep the business in the family. That's pretty funny. 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.000 I mean I have heard of people joking about adopting 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:44.959 college grads so that you have someone to take care 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.000 of you, you know, when you're older. But I mean 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.959 this is kind of surprising to me. Yeah, it is, well, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.080 and and sometimes it's also just like this kick in 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.560 the pants that the business owners kids need to start 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.800 working harder, and it gets complicated. I guess with this 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.040 new sibling rivalry, But you of Japan is such a 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.760 fascinating place, and we thought we'd just take a deeper 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.200 dive into some of the customs and culture you might 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:30.080 not usually hear about. So let's dig ina. Hey there, 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.919 podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.080 and as always I'm joined by my good friend Manges 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.880 Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof glass, 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.000 super focused on his latest origami creation. That's our friend 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.200 and producer Tristan McNeil. So, so what's he working on? 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.360 Mango was trying to look is that? Is that a bear? 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.400 I think it's actually a sailboat. Oh okay, well it's 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.280 a very interesting sailboat. Keep it up, Tristan, it's looking 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.160 really good. All right. Well, today's show is all about 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.640 Japanese society and culture. But rather than taking a deep 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.120 dive into the nation's long history, or maybe focusing on 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.880 a single aspect of its culture, we're going to share 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.720 some of the strangest, most surprising things that we recently 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.079 learned about Japan. So where do you think we should start, Mango, Well, 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.240 I mean, something I think we should address up front 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.239 is this incredible balancing act that Japan does between the 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:18.920 past and the present. All right, so give me an 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.160 example of what you're what you're talking about. Well, one 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.160 simple example is that their smartphones are actually waterproof, and 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.799 this has existed in Japan for over a decade at 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.000 this point. Really, I feel like that's such a recent 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.440 technology here in the US, Like all the commercials last 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.000 year were so focused on that. Yeah, it really is. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:37.880 And I actually saw this guy at the beach last 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.720 summer and he kept accidentally dropping his phone in the 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.280 water then like wiping it off and taking a picture, 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.640 And I guess he was doing it to like impress 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.320 the women around him were like some of the other 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.120 people he was with, and at first I was kind 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.560 of impressed too, But after like the third or fourth 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.600 time he dropped it, I was just rooting for the 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.960 ocean to take that phone away from Oh no kidding, 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.640 I would have done the same, But back to Japan. So, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.880 the first waterproof smartphone rolled out way back in two 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.240 thousand five, and according to a number of electronics companies, 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.120 the reason waterproofing was introduced so early is that manufacturers 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.960 quickly learned that Japanese consumers were fond of taking phones 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.440 into the shower or bathtub with them. Wow. You know, 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.040 you always hear about screen addiction and how people are 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.960 finding it increasingly harder to disconnect from their phones, and 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.760 this kind of feels like the extreme of that exactly, 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.639 so that that's what I thought it was at first too, 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.200 especially when you hear like these reports of gamers and 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.880 how addicted they are to video games. But that's not 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.240 actually what's going on there. So waterproofing is really the 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:40.200 industry standard in Japan of all smartphones sold in the 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:44.200 country or waterproof and it's because of Japanese tradition. So 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.840 as you might have heard that time is really important 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.840 in Japan, like public bathhouses called cento. They've been pillars 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.400 of Japanese society pretty much from the start, and thanks 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.280 to the country's many volcanoes, they also have like I 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.880 want to say, it's like twenty thousand natural hot springs 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.240 on the country for people to soak in well, And 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.160 are their traditions around these or what? Yeah, I mean, 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.560 partially it's just the health benefits, right, like the warm 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.920 water improved circulation and it relieves stiff joints. But there's 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.480 also the social intimacy that comes from sharing a bath, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.240 you know, with other members of your community. So today, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.920 most Japanese people still take frequent hot baths as a 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.719 way to undwind, and the waterproofing was basically a compromise 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.720 to bridge the old traditions with the new ones. Basically, 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.560 most Japanese citizens were on board with having this new 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.880 type of technology, you know, something that you carry around 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.039 with you all the time, as long as they could 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.359 take them into the tub with them. That's pretty interesting. 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.720 And you know, that's something I actually came across while 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.719 doing my research, and that's the idea of big companies 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.000 having to bend to old Japan, you know, and and 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.120 find a way to operate within that existing social framework. 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.200 So how do you mean exactly? Well, one thing is 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.479 that Japan places a high value on hospitality and that 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.120 extends the company, is not just individuals. So you know, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.600 there's this expectation among Japanese consumers that companies are going 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.479 to go above and be on just to accommodate them 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.440 and any of their needs. And there's a great example 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.360 of this, and that's the Japanese auto industry. So according 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:11.440 to the country's Automobile Dealers Association, Japanese brands account for 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.400 nearly nine of the cars sold there in Japan, and 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.159 all of that thanks to the hospitality services. Well, it 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.039 actually is a big part of it. Yeah, you know 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.280 that the relationship between car dealers and their customers is 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.080 very different in Japan than it is here, and as 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.760 a result of that, Japanese consumers are used to this 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.919 high level of service that American dealerships have yet to 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.560 really invest in, either at home or even over there. Now. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.640 The Atlantic did an article about this last year, and 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.719 it included this great description of a typical car buying 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.640 experience in Tokyo, and it really kind of explains how 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.480 deep this custom goes. So the author of the story rights, 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.120 the last time Shujiro Urada wanted to buy a car 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.000 in Japan, his phone happened to ring. It was the 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.440 local Toyota dealer. On the phone asked him if he 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.880 was thinking about buying a new car, and so he 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.040 replied in the affirmative, and the dealer and a co 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.120 workers showed up at Eada's doorstep an hour later with 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.360 two demo cars, which Urada and his wife test drove 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.360 around the neighborhood. Theorada has decided to buy a car 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.800 from this dealer. The dealer also handles their car insurance, 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.279 coming to their home whenever the insurance contract needs to 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.000 be renewed. Theorada is bringing their car to the dealer 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.920 every few weeks for a free car wash, or they 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:22.960 hang out and talk to the employees who kind of 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.240 become their friends. Japanese customers also expect to receive services 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.479 like free maintenance from their dealers after they buy their cars. 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.320 When their cars need to check up, the dealer comes 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.640 and picks them up, does work on them, and then 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.960 returns them. I mean, I kind of want that service, right. 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.760 It's insane, But is that why American car companies haven't 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.039 taken off their like because of that service element. It's 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:47.960 a bigger part of it than you think. And if 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:50.880 these added services are just too costly and I don't know, 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.000 maybe complicated for American car companies to even bother with. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.360 In fact, Ford pulled out of the Japanese market altogether 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.320 back in two thousand and sixteen. That's because they'd like 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.160 five thousand cars or so on average in any given 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.279 year then, and General Motors now has fewer than thirty 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.600 dealerships in all of Japan. All of this despite the 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.360 fact that Japan is actually the third largest auto market 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.760 in the world, behind of course the US and China. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.240 Oh that's crazy. I had no idea is that big? 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.680 So is this just a U S thing? Like, is 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:21.080 it a problem for the U S? Or is this 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.600 a problem for other manufacturers around the world as well? Well? 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.040 Not exactly. I mean European car dealers and Mercedes and 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:31.040 BMW in particular, they've made significant strides in the Japanese 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.880 market over the past few years. And as you might expect, 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:37.880 they pulled this off by embracing this idea of hospitality. Now, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.920 BMW spent like seven hundred million dollars updating its dealer 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.800 network in Japan back in two thousand and sixteen. And 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:46.760 this was also that customers are treated to a lot 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.640 of the same services and perks that they're used to there, 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.320 and the company's sales are actually on the rise as 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.320 a result of this. So I've got to say I'm 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.320 pretty envious. And it's not just the service, Like I 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.920 kind of admire how the culture makes huge companies work 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.200 for them. I mean, can you imagine getting that kind 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.720 of service from like your cable bill provider or your 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.560 cell phone provider. Yeah, and it's pretty incredible. So the 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:11.240 American cars haven't been a hit with the Japanese, but 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.800 there is at least one American export that they have 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.640 taken to, and that's baseball. That Japan is not one, 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.760 but two professional baseball leagues, as well as countless high 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.280 school and university leagues across the country. So all sumo 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.320 wrestling might be the sport most closely associated with Japan. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.760 Baseball is actually the most popular by far, and it's 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.280 watched and played by more people in Japan than any 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.440 other sport, which is insane. So I I knew Japan 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.520 love baseball, but I didn't think it had gotten that big, 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.760 and I do want to hear about it, but I 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.520 can't pass up the chance to share one of my 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.719 all time favorite Suma facts, which I jogged down in 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.000 my margins with an asterix in my notes. I think 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.040 I have a feeling I know which one this one is. 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:57.600 Is this the crying babies thing? Mega spoiler alert? But yeah, 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:00.160 I've got to share it. So for listeners, there's this 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.160 four year old ceremony in Japan where once a year, 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.679 parents bring their infants to shrines, so that Suma wrestlers 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.640 can try to make them cry. It's amazing. But the 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.320 ceremony is part of the Naki Zumo festival and it's 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.880 believed to bring good health to the babies and help 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.040 ward off evil spirits. Well I feel like maybe I 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.880 blocked this out because I don't remember. But but how 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.120 do the wrestlers try to make them cry again? Well, 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.280 each wrestler takes a baby and ideally gets the kid 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.240 to ball just by kind of bouncing them up and 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.600 down in the suma ring. But everyone has their own technique, 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.280 so like a wrestler might make funny faces or even 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.800 growl at the baby a little bit, and then after 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.560 a few seconds, if nothing's worked, a referee will actually 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.320 step in wearing a traditional face mask, and that's what 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.440 does the trick like a referee. So is this more 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:52.520 of a ceremony or a competition? Well, I mean it 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.480 is an event that happens all over the country, so 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.679 the exact rules vary from region to region. So at 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.880 this one shrine in Tokyo they call it baby chry 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.599 sumo that it's strictly a ceremony. In some places, the 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.040 babies actually do compete against each other to see who 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.560 will cry first, and whoever cries first is declared the loser. 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.400 I still can't believe Japan has this competition where babies 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.719 are pitted against one another by suma arrest. I do 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:22.800 love that there is such a thing, but it's still 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.160 pretty nuts. Yeah, I mean it does make you wonder 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.520 why they even bother with baseball. M Well, I do 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.800 want to get back to exactly how and why baseball 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.360 has becomes so big in Japan, but before we do, 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:48.400 let's take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.840 Genius and we're talking about some surprising features of Japanese culture. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.559 So well, I know you're itching to explain the origins 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.559 of Japanese baseball, but first I just have to tell 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.200 you about a story I found while researching KFC in 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.920 Japan's Love Affair with It. But don't worry, because it's 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.560 actually a baseball story too. So you know how in 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.480 American baseball we have these curses that crop up from 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.520 time to time. Yeah, of course, you've got the Cubs 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.480 and their Billy Goat, and the Red Sox and the 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.080 Curse of the Ambino and all sorts of curses like 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.719 this exactly, and and Apparently that baseball tradition carried over 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.960 to Japan because they have the same kind of thing. 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.960 And probably my favorite curse of all time involves a 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:28.120 team called the Hanshin Tigers and a statue of KFC 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.800 founder Colonel Sanders. So the story goes back in the 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.480 Tigers won the Japan Championship Series, which is the Japanese 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.920 equivalent of the World Series, and to celebrate big wins 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.720 like that, Tigers fans had this tradition where they would 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.640 gather on a certain bridge in Osaka read the names 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.199 of all the winning team members out loud, and then 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.080 as each name was called, a fan who resembled that 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:53.680 player would actually jump off the bridge into the river. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.320 I mean, this is already weirder than the Babe Ruth curse. 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.520 And and I'm a little confused here. So is the 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.840 whole fan base made up of guys who just look 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.520 like these players or what? Yeah? I mean, I think 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.720 it was more of a close enough thing. But the 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.640 problem was in eight five, none of the Japanese fans 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:13.000 looked anything like the team's m v P. Who's this 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.200 American guy named Randy Bass? And so this is where 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.679 KFC comes in because the fans were desperate to find 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.280 a Randy Bass look alike, and when they couldn't find 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.280 when they spied the statue of the KFC mascot. It 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.160 kind of looked close enough, so they snatched the colonel 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.240 dressed into Randy Bass jersey and chucked it off the 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.760 bridge into the river as they spoke his name out loud. Wow. 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:36.480 And if you were trying to just make up, like, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.560 what is the most American name you could come up 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.120 with just like Randy Bass away. So so I don't 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.760 understand who put the curse on the team. Is it 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.440 the owner of the KFC or Randy Bass? I mean, actually, 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.959 by the way, I just googled and sadly, Randy bast 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.480 does not look much like the colonel at all. I 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.400 mean that makes it better actually, But the curse was 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:01.520 from the colonel himself. So the real Colonel Sanders, I 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.679 want to say, like, passed away five years earlier, and so, 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.520 according to the legend, his spirit was so pissed about 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.680 the Tigers fans desecrating his statue that he cursed their 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.520 beloved team to never win a championship again. And it 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.080 must have been a potent curse because thirty three years later, 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.679 the Tigers have yet to win, despite making it to 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.520 the playoffs multiple times. Wow, So has anybody ever tried 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.000 just putting the statue back, you know, just to a 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.640 peace Sanders, I guess yeah. So, once a few years 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.120 had gone by and it became clear that, you know, 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:33.960 the team had been cursed by the ghost of an 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.880 American chicken salesman, fans tried all kinds of ways to 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:42.360 affuse them, so they apologized to the KFC manager. They 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.920 they mounted a few failed dives to the bottom of 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.280 the river to try to find the statue, and then 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.719 in two thousand nine, divers actually found and recovered the 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.720 Colonel statue. I mean, his glasses and left hand were missing, 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.280 but otherwise he was pretty intact. So so the Tigers 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.880 were hopeful once more, and it fact, the manager of 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.840 the team held a press conference where he told the press, 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.360 when I heard the statue had been found, I felt 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:11.080 that losing history had ended. I do think if the 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.240 Cubs could win a series, I have to believe the 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.559 Tigers will get there sooner or later. But all right, Well, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.760 if the KFC curse tells us anything, it's that baseball 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:24.280 is this unexpected source of overlap between Japanese and American culture, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.480 of course, And so I did some digging to find 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:29.160 out how the Japanese first fell in love with baseball, 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:31.560 and the story actually goes all the way back to 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.080 the eighteen hundreds. And now this was during the Meiji era, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.480 and this was this period when Japan was moving away 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:40.880 from its isolationist roots and trying to adopt these more 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.480 western customs as a result of this. Now, one person 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.680 often gets credited for introducing baseball to Japan, and that's 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.160 Professor Horace Wilson. And he was an American who taught 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:54.240 English at the university in Tokyo, and at some point, 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.920 I think it was in the eighteen seventies, he started 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.880 introducing his students to baseball because he decided they needed 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:02.320 to get more exercise in their lives. But I mean, 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.520 isn't there plenty of sports opportunity in Japan, like martial 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.560 arts and winter sports, and you know, we talked about sumo. Yeah, 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:11.520 I have thought the same thing, But there was one 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:14.280 part of this that I had not really thought about. So, 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.720 so here's the thing that sports native to Japan or 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.080 super popular in Japan, or that sumo or karate or 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.080 several others. You know, they're mostly one on one activities. So, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:26.800 despite the fact that Japan is a pretty highly group 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.160 based culture, for whatever weird reason, the country actually hadn't 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.120 developed that many teams sports of their own. That's crazy. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.960 I'd actually never thought about that. So is that one 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.040 of the things that helped baseball catch on? Definitely? And 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.720 like I said, so much of Japanese culture is built 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.560 around this idea that the group is the central unit 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.680 of society. So whether it's your family, your neighbors, or 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.760 your classmates. So a team sport like baseball was naturally 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.520 appealing to many people once word of it spread, and 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.840 actually spread pretty quickly. So in eighteen seventy eight, just 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.440 a few years after Horace Wilson taught his students how 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.920 to play by baseball, the Japanese railway engineer organized the 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:07.800 very first Japanese baseball team, the Shinbashi Athletic Club Athletics. 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.120 That's an amazing name. Yeah, well, Japan did get better 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.600 at naming things than today. There are several professional baseball 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.240 teams there and it's not that different from the American 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.040 mascot name. So to go along with the Tigers, You've 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.520 got things like the buffaloes, the hawks, the carp as 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:26.680 well as you know a few mythical creatures like the 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.320 dragons and the giants. But there is something interesting about 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:32.400 the naming there. And we mentioned earlier that the team 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.840 was called the Hanschen Tigers. But Hanchen isn't actually a city, 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.480 so I mean, is it a village or a hamlet 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.840 or something. No, So that's one difference between American and 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:47.040 Japanese baseball. Hanchen is actually a railway company. So while 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.840 American teams are privately owned and named for cities that 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.440 support them, Japanese teams are named for the corporations that 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.440 own them. So while we have the San Francisco Giants, 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.360 Japan has the Yamiuri Giants, which are named for the 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.360 Yamiori newspaper company there. That's pretty interesting, though, I do 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.200 feel like I'm missing a piece of the history here. 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:07.919 So how did Japanese baseball go from being a college 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.040 sport to a national pastime that has these massive companies 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.200 bankrolling the teams? Well after eighteen seventy eight you started 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.520 to see these other teams popping up in Japan, and 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.840 for the next ten years, baseball continued to gain popularity 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.720 at these Japanese universities. The game mostly stayed on campuses 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.480 until well after the turn of the century, but then 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:30.000 in the early thirties, and American ballplayer named Lefty o'duel 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.320 started touring these Japanese universities with a small team of 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.280 American players. How baseball of a name is that left odual. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.080 So they were giving lessons to Japanese players and holding 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.280 these exhibition games every year from nineteen thirty three to 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:48.240 nineteen thirty seven. And these exhibitions could be massive, so 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:52.000 sometimes they played the crowds of more than sixty thousand people. Wow. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.200 And so y four in particular was this very important 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.080 year for Japanese baseball, and this was the year that 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.040 left he brought over this all star American team. That 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.200 this team included players like Luke Garrig, Lefty Gomez, Earl Whitehill, 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:09.080 Babe Ruth himself, and so Japan organized its own dream 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.000 team to face them, but left his crew handily defeated 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.399 them in all eighteen of the games that they played. 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.000 I mean that sounds awful, right, like, like why would 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:19.720 you want to take up a sport after that? Sort 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:23.280 of humiliation. Well, so there was a moment during those 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.840 eighteen games when something truly special happened. There was a 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.119 Japanese picture named Agi Sawamora, and he managed to strike 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.120 out Charlie Garringer, Babe Ruth, Luke Garrick, and Jimmy Fox 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.359 all in a row. So, even though the team ultimately lost, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.720 Sauermember became this national hero overnight, like the country saw 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.280 what was possible, and baseball became more popular than ever. 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:48.919 In fact, organizers rode that wave of public enthusiasm and 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.600 just two years later they formed Japan's very first professional 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.600 baseball team. And as I thank you to Lefty o'duel, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.240 the New York Giant who helped spark the baseball fire 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.720 in Japan, the newly formed team named itself the Giants 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.840 in his honor. I love that. And there's actually another 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:07.160 unexpected big in Japan craze that I want to talk about. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.440 But before we do that, let's take a quick break, 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.200 all right, Mega, So it's my turn for a quick tangent. 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.560 So we both heard the phrase big in Japan, but 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:29.359 I just wanted to take a second to talk about 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.680 where the phrase actually comes from. Yeah, I mean I 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.119 think it's like a music industry term, right, Like I 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.720 remember bands growing up who didn't hit the charts in 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.280 the US, but I would always point to their number 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.479 ones in Asia saying they're big in Japan. Yeah, that's right. 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.000 But there's actually an origin story here, and so the 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.479 idea goes back to the fifties and the sixties when 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.760 Japanese youth started getting hooked on British and American music. So, 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:54.800 for example, there was this rock band from the States 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.960 called The Ventures, and by the early nineteen sixties, the 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.520 band was less fashionable in the U US, so they 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.440 tried touring Japan, and to their surprise, the country went 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.480 crazy for them, quickly becoming the group's most devoted fan base. 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.560 In fact, the Ventures continued to tour Japan every year 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.800 until two thousand and fifteen, and today their albums have 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.679 outsold the Beatles two to one. There isn't that crazy crazy? 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.800 So I mean, I guess big in Japan started out 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.639 as kind of a compliment. Well, I don't know about 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:27.760 a compliment, but it definitely started out the way you 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:29.800 and I have been using and it's just to acknowledge 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.720 the fact, like this band is big in Japan. But 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.960 you know, by the seventies and eighties, the phrase was 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.680 just being used more mockingly, and it kind of came 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.520 to represent the snobbish perception that Japanese consumers were maybe 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.000 attracted lesser artists or something like that. But there's actually 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:46.960