Yesterday, Shohei Ohtani hit his 30th home run of the season, and became the seventh Dodger to hit 30 home runs in three straight seasons.
There was some online fanfare for the feat, but it's more muted these days for Ohtani, not like his first few years in the league when Ohtani hysteria was high and I almost had to cover my ears with all the yelling.
Ohtani has been in the majors for nearly 10 years now and that'll happen. He's not the new thing anymore, even while he continues to do new things. But I think along with that, ever since he came to the Dodgers, people are more reluctant to sing his praises. There may be more Ohtani fans than ever, but there are an awful lot of brain-dead gambling jokes from Barstool acolytes and grumbling about deferred money to go along with it. I seem to read about that more on social media than any cool thing Ohtani has done.
It causes me to wonder where all the Ohtani fans went -- I'm still seeing his cards sell for ridiculous prices -- so they have to be somewhere besides Dodger Stadium.
The most obvious "somewhere" is Ohtani's homeland where I'm guessing if I wanted to hear nothing about good things about Ohtani and Decoy that's where I should go.
Kenny of Torren' Up Cards, who resides in Japan, confirmed it just the other day with an envelope that included this:
This is a newspaper ad in the Aug. 1 edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, one of the big dailies in Japan. Kenny said that this is just a small sampling of Ohtani's presence in Japan, which is everywhere, he said.
It's an ad for an energy drink and I like the three different Ohtani images. Those are about the three standard images for a Topps card of Ohtani. Anything more interesting or creative is required to be a short-print.
And the blog is underselling how large the ad is. Let me turn it on its side.
That gives you a better idea, though it's still not large enough. It's definitely the full width of a newspaper page (I don't know how many columns makes up one Asahi Shinbum page).
This ad also served as wrapping paper for an accompanying pack of cards.
I got a little excited. About a year-and-a-half ago, Kenny sent me a Topps Japan edition pack from 2024 and it was cool. A numbered Paul Skenes card fell out along with a Japan set exclusive insert. I wasn't crazy about the base cards being the same as the U.S. cards except a "Topps Japan" stamp but overall it was fun.
And, it turns out, more fun than this pack.
Here is the first card:
There is no sign on this card that it came from a "Japan Edition". Everything on it, including the card number, says this is a regular Series 2 card.
The first six cards in the pack. All of these line up with each player's Series 2 card, card numbers, photos, etc.
And the second four cards -- just 10 cards in the pack because there was a HIT. The guy who forced Adley Rutschman out the door in Baltimore.
Kenny still has the magic touch.
But, again, these all look like Series 2 cards, including the insert, which is a shame because it's a Dodger and instead of a nice card with a Japanese connection, it's just a dupe, I guess?
The only notable thing about the Japan Edition now seems to be the wrapper and that it's sold in Japan. Fanatics really hates making baseball cards.
Apparently the 2024 edition was the last time the Japan set was somewhat different from the U.S. Topps set. Looking quickly through TCDB, I don't see any Topps Japan edition listed for 2025.
On the bright side, if these are all Series 2 cards, the Alex Freeland card was the only dupe. I can just throw these in with my other Series 2 cards. Again, I'm looking for any reason to call these Japan cards so if there's something I'm missing (a tiny copyright or something), let me know.
I'm not a traveler, but I would appreciate visiting Japan, just to see the love for Ohtani. It would be nice to be in that world for a little bit without all the grumbling and snark about the best player on the planet.
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