ad info




TIME Asia
TIME Asia Home
Current Issue
Magazine Archive
Asia Buzz
Travel Watch
Web Features
  Entertainment
  Photo Essays

Subscribe to TIME
Customer Services
About Us
Write to TIME Asia

TIME.com
TIME Canada
TIME Europe
TIME Pacific
TIME Digital
Asiaweek
Latest CNN News

Young China
Olympics 2000
On The Road

 ASIAWEEK.COM
 CNN.COM
  east asia
  southeast asia
  south asia
  central asia
  australasia
 BUSINESS
 SPORTS
 SHOWBIZ
 ASIA WEATHER
 ASIA TRAVEL


Other News
From TIME Asia

Culture on Demand: Black is Beautiful
The American Express black card is the ultimate status symbol

Asia Buzz: Should the Net Be Free?
Web heads want it all -- for nothing

JAPAN: Failed Revolution
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori clings to power as dissidents in his party finally decide not to back a no-confidence motion

Cover: Endgame?
After Florida's controversial ballot recount, Bush holds a 537-vote lead in the state, which could give him the election

TIME Digest
FORTUNE.com
FORTUNE China
MONEY.com

TIME Asia Services
Subscribe
Subscribe to TIME! Get up to 3 MONTHS FREE!

Bookmark TIME
TIME Media Kit
Recent awards

TIME Asia Asiaweek Asia Now TIME Asia story TIME Asia Japan Special: Young Japan

Changing the Game
Several strong-willed young baseball stars are finally standing up to the sport's conservative management
By HANNAH BEECH Tokyo

Ichiro Suzuki bows to no one. While most Japanese baseball superstars tend to be robotic pitchers, he has earned his reputation swinging a bat. His $4.2 million contract shattered previous salary records. He has his own clothing line, and his genial face beams from countless Tokyo billboards. Defying convention, the 25-year-old's Orix BlueWave jersey is emblazoned with his first name, Ichiro, instead of his last.

With his easygoing style and on-the-field bravado, Ichiro represents the brash new face of one of Japan's most conservative pastimes. Yes, he works hard, and he has led his team to two pennants and a Japan Series title. But he plays hard, too. During a spring training exchange program with America's Seattle Mariners this year, the five-time batting champion picked up not just tips on improving his swing but some colorful English profanity as well. The two-week U.S. stint is a likely prelude to Ichiro's move westward. "With pitchers like Hideo Nomo and Hideki Irabu in the U.S., Japanese players are realizing they can play in America, too," says Hitoshi Yasuno of sports-marketing firm IMG Tokyo. "Many young players admire the easier style of American play." Certainly, Ichiro makes no secret of his wish to blaze a path as the first Japanese non-pitcher in the U.S. big leagues. "He told me the major leagues is his type of baseball," says Orix teammate Willie Banks, formerly of the Arizona Diamondbacks. "He said everybody in the States is so relaxed and everybody in Japan is so uptight."

Ichiro isn't the only one fed up with Japanese baseball's corporate rigidity, a consequence of the conservative thinking of the elderly cadres who run the sport. For 34 years, Japan's national pastime has been played by the owners' rules, which restrict players' freedom to choose their teams and showcase their talents. "Japanese baseball is an obligation to the company," says Tokyo-based sportswriter Jim Allen. "You have to sacrifice for the good of your team."

There is little reason to believe the system will change from within. When Ichiro Yoshikuni retired as commissioner of the sport last year at age 81, he was replaced by 76-year-old Hiromori Kawashima, hardly a harbinger of revolutionary change. Disheartened by such creakiness, many younger players are breaking with tradition and piping up for themselves. Some are simply more outspoken about their prowess, like 18-year-old pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has spurned conventional modesty by predicting he will be 1999's rookie of the year. Others are rocking the boat in more fundamental ways. Despite a lingering recession and the sport's unspoken rule not to haggle over money, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Japan's top relief pitcher, milked a one-year, $4 million contract out of the Yokohama BayStars. Last year's rookie of the year Kenshin Kawakami turned heads by snagging a raise of $250,000 from the Chunichi Dragons--the largest pay hike ever given to a player with one year's experience. And of course, there's Ichiro's dazzling paycheck.

PAGE 1  |  2



Ichiro Suzuki. Kyodo

Young Japan Home

The Me Generation:
The country's privileged youth are struggling to define what they want. Their efforts--both frivolous and fundamental--are already beginning to transform the culture

Day in the Life:
What a 17-year-old girl does--and buys

Culture Club:
Tokyo has taken over as the source of what's hip and happening for the rest of East Asia

Sound Factory:
An Okinawa school turns out stars

Talk Talk:
What teens are chatting about online

Not Playing Ball:
A fresh generation is starting to shake up the hidebound world of Japanese baseball

Outside the Box:
Breaking the education straitjacket

Viewpoint:
Actress Youki Kudoh says respect the old ways

Viewpoint:
Parents should examine their own ethics


This edition's table of contents | TIME Asia home

AsiaNow


   LATEST HEADLINES:

WASHINGTON
U.S. secretary of state says China should be 'tolerant'

MANILA
Philippine government denies Estrada's claim to presidency

ALLAHABAD
Faith, madness, magic mix at sacred Hindu festival

COLOMBO
Land mine explosion kills 11 Sri Lankan soldiers

TOKYO
Japan claims StarLink found in U.S. corn sample

BANGKOK
Thai party announces first coalition partner



TIME:

COVER: President Joseph Estrada gives in to the chanting crowds on the streets of Manila and agrees to make room for his Vice President

THAILAND: Twin teenage warriors turn themselves in to Bangkok officials

CHINA: Despite official vilification, hip Chinese dig Lamaist culture

PHOTO ESSAY: Estrada Calls Snap Election

WEB-ONLY INTERVIEW: Jimmy Lai on feeling lucky -- and why he's committed to the island state



ASIAWEEK:

COVER: The DoCoMo generation - Japan's leading mobile phone company goes global

Bandwidth Boom: Racing to wire - how underseas cable systems may yet fall short

TAIWAN: Party intrigues add to Chen Shui-bian's woes

JAPAN: Japan's ruling party crushes a rebel ì at a cost

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans need to have more babies. But success breeds selfishness


Launch CNN's Desktop Ticker and get the latest news, delivered right on your desktop!

Today on CNN
 Search

Back to the top   © 2000 Time Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.