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You Gotta Have Wa (Vintage Departures)
You Gotta Have Wa (Vintage Departures) | Robert Whiting
1 post | 1 read
A hilarious, informative, and riveting account of Japanese baseball and the cultural clashes that ensued when Americans began playing there professionally. In Japan, baseball is a way of life. It is a philosophy. It is besuboru. Its most important element is wa--group harmony--embodied in the proverb "The nail that sticks up shall be hammered down." In this witty and incisive book, Robert Whiting gives us a close-up look at besuboru's teams, obsessive ritualism, and history, as seen through the eyes of American players who found the Japanese approach--rigorous pregame practices, the tolerance for tie games, injured pitchers encouraged to "pitch through the pain"--completely baffling. With vivid accounts of East meeting West, involving Babe Ruth, Ichiro Suzuki, Bobby Valentine, Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh, and many others, this lively and completely unique book is an utter gem and baseball classic.
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MisterWednesday
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I originally bought the book, this shows a lack of research on my part, as a history of Japanese baseball. It does delve into a little bit of the history of baseball in Japan, as well as thoroughly show examples of American individualism versus Japanese “Wa", harmony, unity, and conformity to the team. Interestingly enough the author, Robert Whiting, was banned from the Tokyodome by the Yomiuri Giants for some of his articles he wrote about them.