So far 2017 has been a banner year for sports prodigies. In June, Mima Ito and Hina Hayata, both 16-year-olds, became the youngest pair from Japan to reach the semifinals of the women's doubles at the Table Tennis World Championships, winding up with a bronze medal.

The same month, 14-year-old Sota Fujii won 28 straight official matches, equaling the all-time winning streak in the traditional board game of shogi. As Japan's youngest professional, the modest Fujii received celebrity-level coverage on TV and in the print media during his streak, and has been credited with inspiring a shogi boom among the country's youth.

While no one is disparaging these pursuits, they cannot compare with the media's coverage of baseball, which is solidly established as the nation's most popular sport. Out of the 24 recipients of the People's Honor Award bestowed by Japan's prime minister, for example, professional baseball players have accounted for four, more than composers, actors, singers or practitioners of any other sports.