Pro Yakyu on North American TV?

- Is Japanese baseball shown on American TV.

Yes, KIKU-TV in Hawaii show Yomiuri games. Though other than Hawaii, no. [Link]

- Why doesn't ESPN show it?

ESPN has a contract with MLB to show a selected amount of MLB games a year. To show Japanese games they would have to get a contract with the NPB.

Please check out these Google search results for previous conversations on this topic. Most often, people have asked this just before the Nippon Series. Perhaps asking this now, and a campaign toward ESPN, might get something going in time for the big series.

Last year's campaign to get ESPN to televise the Nippon Series can be found here. It has contact information and some thoughts as to why ESPN (or FOX) might not be doing it. What a good campaign should do is address issues ESPN might have with covering the Series early, allowing them time to prepare.

ESPN Staff: I know you read this site. How can we put together a successful proposal to get Japanese baseball on ESPN? Especially the Nippon Series? Have you had talks with Japanese baseball officials? If so, what were the problems you faced? As with Open Source software, the more eyes looking at a problem, the more likely the problem can be solved.

As for the "at all?" question, I've heard from people that some games are shown on NHK International, available from some cable providers. YES (in New York) also has an agreement with the Yomiuri Giants to show some games on their network. However, from what I understand, they've only shown old Giants' games from past seasons. (Please correct me if this is incorrect. I don't have first hand knowledge.)

Japanese baseball has been shown on a very sporadic basis over the years.

• In the 1960s, there was one game that was dubbed over by Dizzy Dean.
• I remember seeing a NPB All-Star game on ABC Wide World of Sports in the 1970s.
• There was one Yomiuri game with Gary Thomasson in 1981 while MLB was on strike.
• Then ESPN did show some of the NPB/MLB All-Star exhibition series every other year starting in 1990.

ESPN has since discontinued showing these games, even on a delayed basis.

J-TV shows some Pro Yakyu games. You can only get this on digital cable, and it's probably only in Japanese (I don't have it so I can't tell you).

But I was flicking through digital cable's guide today, and my jaw dropped when I saw they were showing (delayed) the Tigers-Giants game. I don't know how often they do it, but apparently they do.

This was discussed on the Game of the Week this evening. Japan TV's home page is here (in English). This looks like what others have called "NHK International" in the past.

It looks like Japan TV costs $25/month for most cable systems. If it turns out that it will run the entire Japan Series instead of just one or two games per week, I just might buy it for October.

It resides at channel 609 on my system. I bet that I may be one of the few subscribers to it in my area (South Pasadena, CA) as there are view native Japanese living here.