The imminent sale of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks baseball team to the Softbank Internet company may yield great results down the road but, right now, the elimination of the "Daiei" name seems to have cast an atmosphere of sabishisa (loneliness) over the city and the entire northern Kyushu area.
Daiei, one of Japan's largest retailers and supermarket chains, bought the then-Osaka-based Hawks from Nankai Railways in September 1988 and moved the club to Fukuoka for the 1989 season. Now the company has apparently been forced to sell the Hawks as part of a government bailout and restructuring of the parent company.
The FDH symbol stood out through 16 years of ups-and-downs, highs-and-lows, from the depths of a few embarrassing moments to the pinnacle of success with two Japan Series championships. As one who spent my first three years in Japan (1969-72) in Fukuoka and who has often taken advantage of the Hawks' 89 yen victory sales (Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh wears No. 89) at Daiei supermarkets and retail outlets, I am sad.