Japanese Jersey Siting at Mall

While no doubt it could make the NPB more marketable towards people outside Japan and in the United States, the NPB doesn't have this on there minds. The NPB isn't marketed outside of Japan, although maybe Taiwan and South Korea to a lesser extent.

Most people in the United States and elsewhere don't know much about the NPB outside of what sources they can gather, such as this great website, Gary Garland's Japan Baseball Daily, Jim Albright's Baseball Guru Database, Japan Ball, and Borisov's Pro Yakyu 2005 give. Two NPB teams have live media streams of their games, the Softbank Hawks and Seibu Lions.

What most of this has to do with marketing is little except that the NPB and its teams that are in charge of individual marketing aren't interested in marketing there merchandise toward the United States at this time. It seems that the NPB is blind to the fact there is fans of the NPB outside of Japan.

For more on this topic, I would read this interesting, yet decieving, thread.

NPB could make money on merchandizing off non-fans, like the NHL did in many parts of the States, as long as the products are attractive enough and somehow catch on.

In the 1990s, Ebbets Field Flannels made repilcas of old Nippon Pro Yakyu caps, jerseys, and jackets. The president of the company expressed the difficulty of getting any interest or understanding from NPB, CL, PL, and team officials in marketing these items.

In the Seattle area I have seen people with Hanshin Tigers, Yomiuri Giants, Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, Seibu Lions, Chunichi Dragons, and Orix BlueWave caps.

Well knowing how Ebbets Field Flannels conducts business, I'd say they went about it the wrong way. Anyone who knows anything about doing business with the Japanese knows that you can't just waltz in and say, "Hey I've got a great idea, how about it?" and expect a positive response. You've got to build up a relationship first. Even well established Japanese companies have difficulty obtaining licenses from Japanese Pro Yakyu teams, so it's not surprising that they couldn't raise any interest.

Ebbets have now resorted to using pirated Pro Yakyu logos on their merchandise, and misleading descriptions on their website, in clear violation of intellectual property laws.

The key to starting a clothes craze is to give some Hollywood teen-20-something types some free NPB stuff and have them photographed by the papparazzi. Then put the stuff in high end boutiques and Nordstroms and sell it for big bucks.

Or you could go for the rap, urban gangbanger types and market the Yomiuri Giants as yakusa wear. Really, that's what the NFL's Oakland Raiders did.

Interesting ideas. And I suppose with Nabetsune back at the helm of the Giants, the yakuza angle wouldn't be too far off the mark.

But really, the main problem is that the individual teams do their own marketing and merchandising - the NPB is not involved. So there's no NPB "brand" as such to begin with. Anyone wishing to market NPB merchandise in the States would therefore have to make a contract with each team. I know that at least one team specifically forbids its licensees to market merchandise outside of Japan, so it's not possible for them to sell in the States, even if they wanted to.

Dear Brooks-san,

Can you please let me know how I could watch some live media streams of the Softbank Hawks and the Seibu Lions? Which website do I go to? It would be great if I could watch some Pro Yakyu on the Internet since I have never seen a game before.

Thank you for your assistance.

The Seibu Lions link is at: Yahoo! Sports Japan

The Softbank Hawks link is at: Hawks Live

[by Editor: This information is available in both the Links and Media Guide forums.]

Brooks-san,

Thanks for the info. I should have known earlier about watching some Japanese baseball on the Internet. Just wondering, what time do they usually run? I live in British Columbia, Canada or Pacific Standard Time.

Thanks again.

- Just wondering, what time do they usually run? I live in British Columbia, Canada or Pacific Standard Time.

The time varies a lot of time for the games. You can find out the schedules at Borisov's Pro Yakyu [Today's Games]. For the actual starting starting time for your time zone I suggest you visit Time and Date and find the time there.

If you live in the Pacific time zone, at least some of the games will be on for you at 9 PM local. You'll have to check each day, but catching a weekend day game (1 PM JST) should be easy for you if you persist.

FYI, speaking from my experience, the Hawks connection works every time and Seibu's, um, rarely.

I'd like to purchase a So Taguchi Cardinal baseball jersey with Japanese lettering instead of English. I've searched the Internet and haven't found a way to purchase or to have one made. I think there'd be a market in St. Louis for this as it's different and he's doing great for the team!

That's interesting because NPB jerseys don't have Japanese writing on them either (except for some badges). It's all alphabetized. It's one of these things that would sell on the foreign image. There's lots of that in Japan, too; "American" things that Americans would find odd, etc.