Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1413/

Nomo's Risk

Well, here’s a guy, that…he could have made a lot of money in Japan – just staying in Japan – maybe with a different team, but he risked everything, came over here, and he couldn’t speak much English…I don’t know how he spoke with his pitching coach…but he wanted to challenge himself, challenge…probably Japanese baseball also because he probably thought that American baseball fans looked down at Japanese baseball.

So he had two things to prove – to prove to everybody that Hideo Nomo can make it and also that Japanese baseball is quite…great, so he had two big pressures on his back.

And of course everybody remembers his delivery – very, very…unusual – and I believe somebody named it the tornado, but no…a lot of young baseball players and little leaguers – they copied him. I thought that was really fascinating.


baseball broadcasting Hideo Nomo Japan Japan Broadcasting Corporation NHK (firm) Nihon Hoso Kyokai United States

Date: December 20, 2013

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mark Langill

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Margaret Narumi, Producer at NHK Cosmomedia America, Inc., in Santa Monica, California, for two decades has produced broadcasts to Japan of Major League Baseball in the United States, featuring Japanese players such as Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui and Yu Darvish. Her interview for Discover Nikkei was conducted in both English and Japanese as part of a documentary on Hideo Nomo for the Japanese American National Museum exhibit, Dodgers—Brotherhood of the Game. (September 2014)

Toyoshima,Toshiaki

Difficulty of spreading authentic sushi (Japanese)

(b. 1949) Sushi chef. Owner of Sushi Gen restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

Toyoshima,Toshiaki

Teaching how to eat sushi (Japanese)

(b. 1949) Sushi chef. Owner of Sushi Gen restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

Yonamine,Wally Kaname

The privations of living in post-war Japan, 1952

(b.1925) Nisei of Okinawan descent. Had a 38-year career in Japan as a baseball player, coach, scout, and manager.

Sakata,Reiko T.

Parent’s Marriage

(b. 1939) a businesswoman whose family volunterily moved to Salt Lake City in Utah during the war.