With the Los Angeles Dodgers of the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) entering Korea on the 15th for the regular league opener, news of Japanese player Shohei Ohtani and his wife representing the club is drawing attention in both Korea and Japan.
The Dodgers are based in LA, famous for its Koreatown, and there are many Korean fans as it is a team where Korean Major Leaguer Park Chan-ho and Ryu Hyun-jin were involved.
Ohtani posted on his social media a photo with his wife, Mamiko Tanaka, who had been rumored to be on the plane to Korea. The Dodgers also confirmed that Mamiko Tanaka, who is standing next to Ohtani, is his wife.
Ohtani, who arrived at Incheon International Airport at 2:30 p.m., was the first of the team’s players to appear at the arrival hall in a welcoming crowd, followed by his wife, Mamiko Tanaka. When Ohtani’s wife’s identity was officially confirmed, Japanese media are rushing to report on Mamiko Tanaka.
According to Japanese media such as “Friday,” Tanaka has been famous as a beauty since she was a student. She started playing basketball since middle school and participated in the 2017 Universiade Taipei Championship when she was a third grader at Waseda University, a prestigious private university in Japan, contributing to the Japanese team’s first silver medal in 50 years.
He also targeted the Japanese national team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but was reportedly eliminated.
His one-year senior at Waseda University said Tanaka was famous for his beauty in school. He said, “The Waseda basketball team has a reputation for being beautiful for generations, and Tanaka was one of them.”
He told several anecdotes that Tanaka had a good reputation as a person as well as his beauty and basketball skills. “In the early days of his enlistment, Tanaka never showed off his dislike, and it was impressive to always help seniors by moving heavy objects or cheering loudly,” he said.
Tanaka, who is over 180 centimeters tall, is known to be a player whose brother is also currently playing in the Japanese professional rugby league.
On the 29th of last month, Ohtani explained about his wife, “She is Japanese and a very ordinary person. The first time we met was about three to four years ago.”
Ohtani is the most popular star in the history of Japanese sports to the extent that the word “Otani Syndrome” is popular in Japan.
When Ohtani posted a message about his marriage on his SNS on the 29th, NHK, a public broadcaster, sent out breaking news as subtitles on the regular broadcast screen, and private broadcasting also stopped regular broadcasting and announced the news of his marriage.
Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels in December last year and signed a 10-year, $700 million (about 930 billion won) contract with the Dodgers, the largest amount in world sports history.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers will participate in a pre-press conference after training for adaptation to the stadium at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday. The Dodgers will then play practice games with the Kiwoom Heroes and the Korean national baseball team on Wednesday and Saturday.
The two consecutive MLB regular league games against the San Diego Padres, the main game, will be held at Gocheok Sky Dome for two days from the 20th.
BY: 토토사이트
