[Nagoyankee]

It's really simple. In Japan, many of the kids with the best athletic abilities will usually choose to play baseball or soccer. There are professonal leagues in both and kids have their own favorite teams and/or individual players that they admire and aspire to be like in the future.

As for hockey, I don't think I've ever seen a game on TV in Japan. I never knew anything about it when I was a kid, and I still don't know much about it. It's just not a game people here in Japan talk about as often as some other games.