It’s the time of year when warm spring winds blow through Tokyo, heralding the coming of cherry blossoms that will briefly drape the city in pink. But this year, there’s a fleeting arrival that’s even more exciting.
Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers phenom and Japan’s most famous sporting export, is back in town kicking off the Major League Baseball season with his team taking on the Chicago Cubs. The city is abuzz for the event: Nearly 100,000 seats over two nights at Tokyo Dome sold out in moments. Resale tickets are changing hands for amounts approaching $13,500. Think of the hype when Taylor Swift visited your city. Then double or triple it.
It’s a triumphant return home for a man who moved to the U.S. in late 2017 and who this time last year was under a cloud of suspicion. It was at the season opener in Seoul in 2024 that allegations first surfaced of illicit gambling involving his then-interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, who was subsequently convicted and sentenced to jail for stealing $17 million from Ohtani.
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