Museum Launches Japanese Language Web Content To Support Exploring Transpacific Baseball Exchange

COOPERSTOWN—In support of a groundbreaking exhibit opening July 2025, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has debuted new Japanese language web content.

“Yakyu/Baseball: The Transpacific Exchange of the Game” will explore the cultural exchange between the countries through the lens of baseball, according to a media release. Debuting in the same year as Ichiro Suzuki’s first appearance on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot, the exhibit will feature artifacts and stories about a game that became the most popular sport in Japan less than 50 years after the United States and Japan established diplomatic relations.

The new content, available in Japanese and English, is located at baseballhall.org/jp/yakyu.

Located on the museum’s third floor, officials said the exhibit will cover more than 1,800 square feet of space and feature four aspects of transpacific baseball:

• Japanese teams touring America, including the first such tour by the Waseda University team in 1905

• American teams touring Japan, including the first trip in 1907 and the massively popular tour featuring Babe Ruth in 1934

• Players born in the United States playing in Japan, including Larry Doby, Warren Cromartie, Randy Bass and many more

• Players born in Japan playing in the United States, starting with MLB pioneer Masanori Murakami in 1964 and followed by Hideo Nomo in 1995 and subsequent stars

From Japanese stars like Sadaharu Oh and Eiji Sawamura to United States emissaries like Lefty O’Doul to one of the game’s biggest superstars in Shohei Ohtani, the United States and Japan’s shared love of baseball has spawned thousands of individual friendships and helped bring the nations together during times of peace, conflict, and reconciliation.

Translation services were provided courtesy of High Voltage Entertainment Inc.