U.S.-Japan Relations Seen through the Lens of Baseball: The Meaning of Ichiro, Dice-K and Bobby V

Date: Dec. 2, 2009

Time: 7 p.m.

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Speaker: Robert Whiting, Journalist
Moderator: Ikei Masaru, Professor Emeritus, Keio University

Admission: Free 
Language: English (no Japanese translation provided)

On the occasion of the publication of the new, updated version of his best-selling You Gotta Have Wa, Mr. Robert Whiting will talk about the recent changes that can be observed in U.S.-Japan relations through the lens of baseball. He will analyze the meaning of the World Baseball Classic, Japanese players such as Ichiro and Daisuke Matsuzaka making their mark in the major leagues, and the role of foreign players/managers in Japanese baseball, with a special focus on Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman.

Mr. Whiting first came to Japan in 1962. After graduating from Sophia University with a degree in Japanese politics, he worked for Britannica Japan. He has lived in Japan for 31 years. His first book, The Chrysanthemum and the Bat (Dodd Mead, 1977), was chosen by Time as the best sports book of the year. Mr. Whiting is the author of several highly acclaimed books on contemporary Japan, including You Gotta Have Wa (MacMillan, 1989; Vintage, 2009); Tokyo Underworld (Pantheon, 1999), which describes organized crime in Japan and examines the corrupt side of the Japan-US relationship; and The Samurai Way of Baseball (Warner Books, 2005), which describes the impact on U.S. baseball of the outfielder Ichiro of the Seattle Mariners and other Japanese stars.

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