HYUNG-JIN KIM By The Related Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shohei Ohtani could also be South Korea’s most beloved Japanese participant, a testomony to his allure in softening any lingering animosity between the 2 neighbors.
Since his arrival in South Korea along with his spouse for Wednesday’s Main League Baseball opener towards the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrity has been the focus.
Many Korean followers are sporting Ohtani’s jersey and cheering for him within the stadium. The supervisor of the Korean nationwide workforce has been praising him for his autograph and media studies and social media posts.
That is nothing new for the two-way baseball sensation, who in December signed a file $700 million, 10-year contract to affix the Dodgers. However it’s extremely uncommon for a Japanese to obtain such remedy in South Korea, as historic grievances stem from Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean peninsula.
“Our social atmosphere usually makes it tough for us to say that we like Japan,” mentioned Lee Jong-sung, a sports activities tradition knowledgeable at Hanyang College in Seoul. “I believe Ohtani is perhaps the primary Japanese athlete we are able to say we like.” Perhaps, some even think about him an honorary Korean citizen.
A lot of Ohtani’s South Korean supporters say they like him due to what they name his good manners and his baseball prowess.
“Ohtani has been good to the Korean followers, so I believe everyone likes him,” mentioned Park Sung-jun, 40, a doctor who wore Ohtani’s jersey earlier than the Dodgers’ exhibition recreation with South Korea’s Kyom Heroes on Sunday. mentioned earlier than
“We now have historic points to resolve with Japan, however whether or not Ohtani likes it’s one other matter,” Hwang Seon-young, one other Korean Ohtani fan, mentioned on the Gocheok Sky Dome.
Ohtani, who’s hailed in Japan as “the right man”, is aware of impress Korean followers. Earlier than leaving for South Korea, he posted an Instagram photograph displaying him making a “finger coronary heart” gesture with the Korean nationwide flag emoji.
After arriving in South Korea, he instructed reporters that he all the time respects the South Korean nationwide workforce and referred to as South Korea “one in every of my favourite international locations”.
“The nation that Ohtani likes essentially the most is South Korea. The Japanese who likes South Koreans essentially the most is Ohtani,” reads a Korean message posted on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
Relations between South Korea and Japan have improved considerably over the previous 12 months, with South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul taking a serious step towards resolving the dispute over Japan’s colonial-era compelled mobilization of Korean laborers. An extended-standing level in bettering. Two-way relations.
In 2019, a compelled labor situation sparked a large public marketing campaign to boycott Japanese items and providers in South Korea.
The connection between Korea and Japan has skilled an on-again, off-again shift. So if anti-Japanese sentiment rises once more in South Korea in 2019, Ohtani’s followers could discover it a problem to publicly specific their love for the 29-year-old.
However regardless of their largely political ties, South Korea and Japan are intently linked culturally and economically. Many younger South Koreans don’t harbor the identical robust resentment towards Japan as their elders, and so they usually see Japanese gamers as simply overseas gamers.
“They see Japanese gamers as extra relaxed. They assume Japan has Ohtani whereas we have now Son Heung-min,” Lee, a college professor, mentioned of the favored Korean footballer with Tottenham Hotspur.
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