$510 Dodgers jerseys and $150 caps. Behold the price of being an Ohtani fan in Japan
The Dodgers are paying $700 million for Shohei Ohtani
SEOUL, South Korea — Mai Fukuo was gift-shopping for a friend. Hideki Chiba was in the same sports store in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo looking for something for his father-in-law.
They each picked up items in blue — Los Angeles Dodgers Blue, of course. This reflects the color revolution that's evident all over Tokyo in the last few months since Shohei Ohtani moved from the Los Angeles Angels — base color, red — to sign a $700-million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers.
Angels caps have almost vanished in Tokyo. A Dodgers lid is the fashion item — a bit like designer-label goods.
“Ohtani just changed our store,” said Takuto Yamashita, a part-time worker at a shop called Selection, which boasts Japan's largest array of MLB gear for all 30 teams, and the 12 Japanese pro teams, too.
But there's one team that matters more than the rest in Japan. And only one player, which is why the Dodgers invested so heavily in Ohtani; not just for his pitching and hitting, but for his celebrity status to market the Dodgers as Japan's team.
“The place is completely different. It went from all red to to all blue," Yamashita added. «Without Ohtani in these last few months, the sales in this store would be so different.”
Fukuo eyed a traditional white jersey with “Dodgers” in script across the front. She lifted it off the rack — a quilt of Dodgers and Ohtani garb — and admired it for looks, size and texture.
“I'm thinking of buy this t-shirt for my co-worker because Ohtani is very famous — of course in Japan — and also all over the world,» she explained. «He likes baseball and he likes Ohtani so I'm thinking of this.”
In another shopping aisle, Chiba dropped a traditional Dodgers cap into
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