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06-18-2007, 02:12 AM
YaksokuDa, I am sorry, but baseball was not brought into Japan post-WWII, but was actually introduced to Japan in the late 1800s. Professional baseball has been incredibly popular in Japan for almost 100 years.
High school baseball championships are held every year in Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo-ken (smack dab between Osaka and Kobe). The best teams from each prefecture vie for the National title, and many of the best players will be scouted for pro teams. I think we are talking in slightly simplistic terms to simply call "Americanization" a "bad thing" in the scope of this topic. Is it so terrible for one culture to have influence on another? Are we not all on Japan forums? 
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06-18-2007, 08:39 AM
That's kinda hypocritical to say it's bad if one culture influences another... I mean, Japanese culture has influenced Western culture quite a bit, no? Anime is very popular in the US, Europe and in many other places, and sushi is a popular food these days too. Anime itself derived from art and animation techniques that were developed in europe and the US. If the west hadn't influenced Japan in the ways it did, I would think that Japan would not be the economic world leader that it is today.
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06-19-2007, 12:31 AM
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06-19-2007, 01:36 AM
Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, and the first formal team was established in 1878, and it has been a popular sport since. It is called 野球 (やきゅう; yakyū) in Japanese, combining the characters for field and ball.
In 1913 and in 1922, American baseball stars visited Japan and played games against university students. They also held clinics on technique. A retired major league player, Herb Hunter, made eight trips to Japan from 1922 to 1932 organizing games and coaching clinics. It is played at all age levels but most widely in junior high schools and senior high schools. In March and August, two tournaments are held in Koshien Stadium for senior high school teams that win a prefectural tournament. The highest level of competition is Nippon Professional Baseball, started in 1920. It is called Puro Yakyū (プロ野球), meaning Professional Baseball. In 2005 the Japan Samurai Bears began play in the Golden Baseball League, becoming the first Japanese team in an American professional baseball league. Several manga have baseball as their subject matter, including Touch and Major.
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06-19-2007, 01:44 AM
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Eh? Japan's economy is in a relatively poor condition right now (as shown from the insanely weak condition -which is still getting weaker- of the Yen on the international trading market). It has been slowly improving, then falling again, for nearly a decade now which is very strange since the GNP in Japan is very large in comparison to many other 'first-world' countries If you meant Japan is a world-leader in exportation of goods, then I completely agree but I don't understand why you are saying the economy is a world-leader. That said, it is also quite possible I have missed the point you were trying to make so this post may even be irrelevant 
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06-19-2007, 04:08 AM
"relatively" poor. They are still one of the strongest economies in the world. Indeed they have had a hard time recovering from the bubble burst in the early nineties, but it isn't like there is mass starvation or homelessness, or even unemployment.
Wow...only a little off topic, huh? 
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06-19-2007, 04:07 PM
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The unemployment is hidden by needless hiring of labourers to replace/repair roads which don't need fixing... been going on over here for a while and is one of the reasons the economy is suffering because inflation can't be curbed I also think there is a LOT more homelessness then people like to admit over here... I have seen loads in Yokohama! As for being off topic... I tend to have that effect I'm afraid lol
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