You Gotta Have Wa

A hilarious, informative, and riveting account of Japanese baseball and the cultural clashes that ensued when Americans began playing there professionally.
In Japan, baseball is a way of life. It is a philosophy. It is "besuboru." Its most important element is "wa"--group harmony--embodied in th [...]
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A hilarious, informative, and riveting account of Japanese baseball and the cultural clashes that ensued when Americans began playing there professionally.
In Japan, baseball is a way of life. It is a philosophy. It is "besuboru." Its most important element is "wa"--group harmony--embodied in the proverb "The nail that sticks up shall be hammered down." In this witty and incisive book, Robert Whiting gives us a close-up look at "besuboru"'s teams, obsessive ritualism, and history, as seen through the eyes of American players who found the Japanese approach--rigorous "pre"game practices, the tolerance for "tie" games, "injured "pitchers encouraged to "pitch through the pain"--completely baffling. With vivid accounts of East meeting West, involving Babe Ruth, Ichiro Suzuki, Bobby Valentine, Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh, and many others, this lively and completely unique book is an utter gem and baseball classic.