You Gotta Have Wa
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Average rating3
15
Ratings1
Average rating3
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 pregame 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was fascinating, even though I kept having to ask for people to explain baseball basics to me. The cultural differences between how Americans and Japanese players approach the sport was really interesting. The main issue I had with the book was how dated it feels reading it in 2019. A friend mentioned that only a couple of years after this was written, Japan suffered a huge economic crash, ushering in the Lost Generation. I would love an update on how modern Japanese baseball has changed in the intervening years.
