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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
More Japan than Baseball, March 10, 2003
On the surface, this is a treatise about baseball in Japan. Only slightly underneath, it's a fascinating work on the difference between Japanese and American culture. The title word Wa comes from the Japanese word for team unity, as opposed to the American interest in individuality.The book goes through both a history of baseball in Japan, as well as challenges American's deal with over there. It covers the trials and tribulations of Americans like Bob Horner, who thrive on the diamond, but struggle off the field. It covers the adverserial relationship between Japanese coaches and their foreign (Gai-jin) charges. Any American going to work in Japan is well advised to pay attention! How is Japan changing over time? Compare how the approval of "different" antics of foreigners changes over time. Learn how some Japanese players follow the model, but as the exception and not the rule. Is the Japanese culture changing, or a surface appearance of change part of the Japanese character? Read the book to find out. Again, it's only about baseball on the surface. How does training differ? The American model suggests individuals can improve, but only to the limit of their ability. The Japanese model in both the field and the office is that there is no limit - strength and success is limited only by effort. This drive leads to a 10-11 month season counting training camp, as well as several hours of strenuous exercizes every day before practice. This is essential to developing the fighting spirit. Again, someone travelling to Japan for business is well advised to understand this. The book is a must for baseball lovers as well as people interested in learning more about Japan. The book is a fascinating work that hides great learning behind Japan under the story of America's pastime.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Is It Really About Baseball?, February 27, 2000
I have had the fortunate experience of visiting Japan twice and seeing some Japanese baseball. It was an experience I shall never forget. Curious about the subject I picked up and read this awesome book. However, as much as this book is about baseball. And it is filled with some great stories and information. I wonder how much this book is really about the cultural differences between the United States and Japan. Using the history of Japanese baseball and the rough experiences of many of the American players who have tried to play in Japan, the author does an awesome job teaching about Japanese culture. This is much more than a baseball book. Its about baseball and culture, and cultural diffusion, and the differences between Americans and Japanese. This is a funny book, a fun to read book, but you will learn alot about Japan by the time you are done. I have even assigned this book to my students. This book is worth it. An unforgettable read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Baseball and much more, April 12, 2005
Longtime Japan resident and journalist Robert Whiting's classic book on Japanese baseball is as fresh today as when it was published. The book begins with the arrival of Bob Horner, a 29-year-old bonafide all star who was still in his prime when he arrived to play for the Yakult Swallows. Waiting for him when he landed at Narita Airport were 200 journalists, a team owner who confidently predicted--and expected--that the overweight Horner would hit 50 home runs (Horner was assigned the number 50 on his uniform as a not so subtle reminder), and a year contract worth $2 million. What Horner did not know was how different yakyu (literally, field ball) would be from the baseball he knew in America. The regimentation of Japanese teams, the rules governing many aspects of life both on the field and off--and the adjustment of moving around the world to live in a very different culture--had been and still is the undoing of many players. Whiting's work is about more than baseball and sports; it is about how Japan and Japanese approach things, how that which is imported must first be Japanized. Highly recommended.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
what other country would name a baseball team the Ham Fighters, December 7, 2006
There is no doubt that the author has a firm grasp of Japanese culture. For that I would give him five stars. His knowledge of baseball is only passing for a professional writer, and make cause hard core baseball fans to be left wanting for more detail.
The book was written in the late 1980s and reads a bit dated, but the stories of how a select group of American ballplayers attempt to integrate into Japanese style baseball is still interesting and worth a read during the long baseball-less winter. It was also written before the days of all-star players like Ichiro came from Japan to America and dominated. During the 1980s, you could be a semi-over the hill overweight American and still hit 340 with 40 homers in Japan.
The author's knowledge of Japan was first rate and his obviously lived in the country for a long time. The book is about baseball, but is really about how the Japanese culture is still struggling to integrate culturally with the rest of the world. I would reccomend it for the baseball reader who is looking for something unique.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
You don't even need to know baseball..., September 28, 2005
but it helps. I'm not the world's biggest sports fan, and while I could get the gist of some baseball specifics like sacrifice bunts from context, some more esoteric points went over my head. Not many, though, certainly not enough to significantly diminish my appreciation of this book. Anybody (well, anybody American) looking for an entertaining and accessible introduction to some major differences between Japanese and American culture could do a lot worse than "You Gotta Have Wa". Managerial styles, notions of work versus play, team spirit, and many other topics of broad interest that transcend baseball are touched on in this book and used to illuminate the differences between our cultures.
Ten+ years after the Japanese economic bubble burst, the book does occasionally seem dated. Assumptions about inevitable Japanese global domination common to much of the writing from this period do occur, but don't significantly detract from the book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Same, but Different, January 22, 2001
Baseball is baseball, right? Not when it's played in Japan, it seems. Pitchers pitch "until their arms fall off." Fielding practice is done until players drop from exhaustion. Fans chant highly organized and rhythmic chants at the same piercing volume, all game long, regardless of the score. It's not "play ball" in Japan, it's "work ball." And into this arena come the foreigners. Often bench-warmers and minor leaguers in North America, they are expected to become instant stars in Japan. The pressure and the intense work ethic drive many away after only a few weeks or months. Others, like Randy Bass, become national heroes, appearing on TV commercials nightly. However even Bass must have felt his outsider status when he was intentionally walked for the rest of the season when he challenged Sadaharu Oh's single-season home run record. If you are interested in baseball, or in what happens when Japan meets the outside world, this is the book for you.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
It gets a little repetitious, August 31, 2005
The author covers the differences between Japanese and American baseball, but sort of goes over and over certain things, with little regard to chronological order--Americans in Japan, Japanese in Japan. But the difference between the Japanese and American point of view, personality, and tradition is very interesting.
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Ya gotta luv it!, January 17, 2004
This is a great book on one of the most beautifully esoteric topics out there. This is a subject that can be appreciated more now than ever. Japanese baseball rocks! Let's all just admit that. This history is academic and detailed, yet fun and nostalgic at the same time. In addition, it was written in an era that was void of any present day marketability or "hip", as oppossed to the era of Ichiro and Matsui Hideki, in which commmentaries will certainly contain those oppining in a way void of knowledge or appreciation of that which went before. Thank God that the pure and noble notion of this wonderful sport will always trancend the fraiailties of predjudice. Go The Tigers!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Interesting Book About American Ballplayers in Japan, May 24, 2000
In describing the Japanese game of baseball and the problems it has caused Americans attempting to play that game, Whiting succeeds in painting a vivid picture of the differences between the American and Japanese cultures. After reading this book, I came away feeling that both countries could learn from each other: by learning about how the Japanese live their lives, Americans could become more dedicated to their jobs and less self-centered; meanwhile, the American way of life could teach the Japanese to be more indep | |
