Dodgers P/DH Shohei Ohtani “seems to be everywhere” in Japan -- “on billboards, on products, in television ads and news and entertainment shows” as well as on the field when his games are broadcast live in the country, according to Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. One of the first things people see when they deplane at Haneda Airport is a “photo of the superstar in an ad for green tea.” Leaving the airport, one sees Ohtani’s “boyish image on vending machines, in convenience stores and wrapped around trains coursing through the city.” Ohtani has about 20 active sponsorship deals at any time, like with the Japanese drugmaker Kowa and with New Balance. MLB apparel and jersey sales in Japan jumped 183% last year and sponsorships grew 114%, including new deals with Mastercard Japan and video game company Konami. When Ohtani comes to town, home teams have “seen a surge in sponsorships from Japanese companies who buy in-stadium ads” that can be seen by Japanese fans watching Ohtani’s games at home. SponsorUnited said that ads for more that three dozen Japanese brands were visible on TV during Dodgers away games (N.Y. TIMES, 3/18). Fox prior to today’s season-opening game in Tokyo aired a video package showcasing Ohtani’s popularity in the U.S., and the net’s Jason Benetti said, “It’s doubled and tripled and quadrupled in Japan.” Benetti: “Billboards, some say, on basically every block” (“Dodgers-Cubs,” Fox, 3/18).
SALES ARE UP: THE ATHLETIC’s Evan Drellich notes Fanatics Managing Dir of East Asia Operations Nori Kawana -- who leads MLB’s merchandising in Japan -- said that the exhibition between the Dodgers and Nippon Professional Baseball League’s Yomiuri Giants on Saturday had “already set his company’s sales record in Asia” for a single day. Seemingly every other fan at the Tokyo Dome wore Ohtani’s No. 17 jersey. Outside, fans streamed through a 31,000-foot MLB retail store. Fanatics and MLB “clocked an average of 1,100 transactions every hour across 140 registers.” Ohtani appears not only on a multi-story New Balance display near the city’s famed Shibuya Crossing, but on smaller Seiko watch ads along the moving walkways at Haneda Airport. He is on both bottles and boxes of Ito En green tea in the convenience chain Family Mart, and on the banner above one’s head when entering the store. In a taxi ride at the end of one’s day, Ohtani might “recommend a mattress on the passenger’s video monitor” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/18).
WAIT IN LINE: The AP’s Stephen Wade notes thousands of people “stood for an hour just to get in” to MLB’s temporary store, with fans “three or four abreast in a twisting line.” The lines continuously “seemed to grow longer, even on a rainy Sunday in Tokyo.” The store is basically “dedicated to” Ohtani, P Yoshinobu Yamamoto, P Roki Sasaki and the Dodgers, though there is a “small section for Chicago Cubs fans with most of the usual stuff” (AP, 3/18). MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred noted there was an hour and a half wait to get into the store prior to today’s game. He said, “It was just absolutely packed with people and stuff just flying off the shelves” (“Dodgers-Cubs,” Marquee Sports Network, 3/18).
SPECIAL EDITION: WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY’s Jean Palmieri noted Ohtani met with popular Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, whose “floral embellishments on the players’ jerseys have been a runaway success.” The two added their signatures to four cards -- two that will be “inserted into special Topps’ sets designed by the artist.” This topped off a full weekend of festivities in Tokyo, including Saturday’s exhibition game -- where Ohtani wore a “custom-designed, gold-embellished MLB logo of the silhouetted batter on the back of his jersey,” replacing the traditional club-colored one. The patch will be “removed and inserted into a special Topps Gold Logoman card that will be sold later this year” (WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY, 3/17).
