Brass bands, concessionaires toting kegs as backpacks and a lot of choreographed cheering: Such is baseball in Japan. No other sport in the country draws more people, and yet, almost 90 years after the inaugural pitch was thrown in the first professional league, locals are showing a greater thirst than ever for the far-more-raucous Japanese takes on hot dogs, Cracker Jacks and seventh-inning stretches.
Baseball’s rising popularity in Japan can be seen most clearly in its skyrocketing attendance figures: In 2024, the 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams that play 143 regular-season games tallied 26.7 million spectators, the highest figure since 1950, with stars like Munetaka Murakami and a new stadium in Hokkaido, where Shohei Ohtani used to play, helping to drive up the attendance figures. With all the basic similarities between the American version of the sport and its Japanese counterpart (the rules are almost identical), it’s also a great way for business travelers to break the ice with co-workers whose cultures may otherwise feel worlds apart.