Baseball in Japan

Baseball is perhaps the most admired sport in Japan . Baseball in Japan is known as Yakyu. Baseball in Japan was introduced from the United States during the early Meiji Period. Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson. Since then baseball has been a popular sport in the island country of Japan. The first Japanese baseball formal team was established in 1878.

Baseball in Japan is mostly played at all age levels but mainly in junior high schools and senior high schools of Japan. In Japan there are a large number of university and high school baseball teams. The finals of the high school baseball tournaments are very popular throughout Japan. Baseball games are broadcast live on television several times per week during the season.



Japan's professional baseball season is from April to October. Nowadays in Japan there are two professional baseball leagues, namely the Central League and the Pacific League . Each baseball league in Japan consists of six teams. There are six teams in each league. The winners from both leagues meet in the Japan Series in October. Every year in Japan exchange games between two leagues which are known as koryu-jiai also take place. Numerous Japanese baseball players are playing highly successfully in the American Major League and also get pleasure from the enormous popularity and media coverage in Japan. Few names of the timeless heroes of Japanese baseball are mentioned below:

• Takehiko Bessho
• Kaoru Betto
• Hideo Fujimoto
• Shinichi Etoh
• Tatsunori Hara
• Kazuhisa Inao
• Davey Johnson
• Sachio Kinugasa
• Masanori Murakami
• Minoru Murayama.