Japanese Baseball Takes the Lead in Feature Documentary Diamond Diplomacy
A version of this article originally appeared in Nichi Bei Weekly.
Watching Shohei Ohtani’s record breaking exploits over the past few seasons, even fair-weather baseball fans have become familiar with Japan’s current impact on the quintessential American pastime. However, many would be surprised to learn that baseball has been the national sport of Japan since 1896. In her new documentary, Diamond Diplomacy, veteran filmmaker Yuriko Gamo Romer explores the long history of baseball in Japan and its impact in modifying cultural attitudes on both sides of the Pacific.
Offering a 9-inning crash course on over 150 years of US-Japan relations, the first act of the 85-minute film covers an impressive amount of history from the Meiji Restoration to WWII. The second act explores the postwar era and is anchored by key interviews with Masanori “Mashi” Murakami and Warren Cromartie. The final section of the film explores the recent expansion of Japanese players in Major League Baseball.
Music plays an important, if subtle, role throughout the film. Anchored by indie rock / folk pop artist Goh Nakamura’s soundtrack, the standout piece is his reimagining of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” played during the end credits in a finger-picking folk guitar style with jazz instrumentalist Masaru Koga accompanying on the shakuhachi.
Among the many surprising anecdotes shared in the film is the first official US-Japan baseball game that took place in 1896. The Japanese team was a group of students aged 18-22 from the First Higher School of Tokyo. The US team came from Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, and was made up of adult men who were traders, missionaries, and other American expats. Japan won three of the four game series, with an incredible one game score of 29-4. This led some contemporary commentators to cite the 1896 victory as evidence that Japan could prove themselves as equals by beating the Americans at their own sport.
The film also delves into the significant role that baseball played in Japanese American communities during the early 20th century, traced through the life and career of Kenichi Zenimura. Often referred to as the father of Japanese American baseball, Zenimura was a pivotal figure in US-Japan sports diplomacy during the 1920s-1930s organizing several exhibition tours by American players. An accomplished player in his own right, in 1927 Zenimura played alongside Lou Gehrig in an exhibition match against Babe Ruth, and won. He would later help to negotiate Ruth’s 1934 tour of Japan.
The film pulls together a few interesting threads regarding baseball’s wartime history, which remained popular in Japan despite its American origins with one minor difference – they changed the English loan translation words used by the umpire like safe and out, to Japanese terms yosh and dame. Zenimura reenters the story during the wartime incarceration for his role in creating the baseball program at Gila River concentration camp. While there are many other stories that could have been told about baseball in camp, that topic is explored separately in a short documentary titled Baseball Behind Barbed Wire that Romer released in 2023 (currently available to stream on Nichi Bei’s Films of Remembrance On Demand).
The postwar era is then explored through the stories of Mashi Murakami and Warren Cromartie. The two players perform a central role in the second act of the film, with Murakami as the first Japanese-born player recruited to the MLB and Cromartie being the first American player to join Japanese baseball in his prime. The two stories work well together to demonstrate the different, but relatable challenges that both players faced in acclimating to the play style and culture of the sport in their respective contexts.
Murakami’s brief 1964-1965 stint with the SF Giants came to an end when the Nankai Hawks forced him back to finish an existing contract. This high-profile dispute led the commissioners of MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball to create a policy banning professional Japanese players from transferring to US teams. It was not until Hideo Nomo was signed by the LA Dodgers in 1995 that the ban was lifted. The film reframes Nomo joining the Dodgers as a pivotal moment that helped improve bilateral relations, and led to further opportunities for players like Ichiro Suzuki whose story is briefly covered in the final chapter of the film.
If there is one critique for this film, the last section felt a little rushed by comparison to the extensive exploration of 20th century baseball. That said, Ichiro Suzuki’s 19-season career in the MLB is rich enough to warrant its own film, and has already been the subject of several television documentaries. Similarly, Shohei Ohtani’s story, while significant in its own right, is still being written. As the current face of baseball, it made sense for the film to end with footage of Ohtani striking out Mike Trout, and winning the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
By bookending the chronicle of US-Japan baseball with the 1896 series and most recent WBC victory by Japan, the film implies that perhaps Japan has succeeded in besting the Americans at our own game. After all, as the film points out, Ohtani did sign the largest contract in baseball history in December 2023. Overall Diamond Diplomacy helps shed light on the pivotal role that baseball continues to play in the US-Japan relationship, and has potential to entertain audiences that are both diehard fans and newcomers to the game.