Shohei Ohtani's rural hometown honors its superstar son -- from city hall to the hair salons

Shohei Ohtani's hometown in norrn Japan is a rural place, famous for its high-quality Maesawa beef, its history of making tritional ironware and intense green hills and mountains that surround it.

Japanese call such places “inaka” — roughly translated as “countryside.” No glitz, quiet streets and up north — cold winters. It's only 300 miles (500 kilometers) from Tokyo, but it seems furr away.

se days, Oshu City is most famous for Ohtani himself, and intense pride local people show for one of game's greatest ever players. He started in local Little League with Mizusawa Pirates, played for Hanamaki Higashi High School — a route that led him to World Series. His Los Angeles Dodgers le New York Yankees 3-0, and fans here will be tuned in when LA tries to clinch title early Wednesday morning local time.

town honors Ohtani at every turn. And to experience it, start first with hairdresser Hironobu Kanno's salon called “Seems.”

waiting room is a museum dedicated to Ohtani with about 300 artifacts hung, stacked and squeezed into every corner. Even more items are in storage.

re are signed Dodgers and Angels jerseys, dozen of autographed baseballs, bats, shoes, caps, gloves, bobblehes, photos of Othani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka, shirts emblazoned with images of his dog Decopin (Decoy in English), stuffed animals, pillows and life-size cutouts of superstar.

Kanno said many fans come to town on a kind of “pilgrimage," and his shop is often part of that.

“My customers and those who come to visit Ohtani’s hometown really enjoy seeing collection, and I think it is a very effective way for m to feel closer to Ohtani," he said.

collecting began innocently when Kanno attended a baseball game on May 23, 2013 — first professional game in which Ohtani batted and pitched. This was for Japan’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, and Kanno came back with a ball signed by Ohtani.

“When I put ball with Ohtani’s autograph in my salon, customers were very happy to see it,” Kanno said. “So I started to collect goods little by little.”

rest is history.

He said his most treasured item is a cap signed by Japanese players who defeated United States in final of last year's World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome.

Nanno confessed that cost of Ohtani goods keeps rising. He suggested he'd spent about 10 million yen — perhaps $100,000 — on Ohtani merchandise over a dece, and guessed value might be five or six times as much.

He said he’d never met Ohtani nor his mor and far — Toru and Kayako — and superstar has never seen collection. He said eventually, he'd like to see it in a real museum and ded he wasn't in it for financial gain.

He across town to city hall if you need more Ohtani memorabilia. One corner is loed with photos of Ohtani, newspaper clips and pennants reminding that he won American League MVP in 2023 and 2021. He’s favorite to be National League MVP this season.

centerpiece of city hall collection is a replica of Ohtani’s right hand. golden hand allows you to grasp it and watch a video with Ohtani showing how replica was me.

Keigo Kishino and his wife Chiaki said y traveled in one day from western city of Osaka — by plane and train — just to shake hand.

“He is a source of energy for me, or something like that,” Chiaki said.

Jeffrey Kingston, who teaches history at Temple University in Japan, described Ohtani as a “combo of pure skill, pride and nationalism that make him irresistible to Japanese public, and anyone remotely interested in game, extending even to people who never really cared about baseball.”

His was referring partially to his wife Machiko Osawa, a professor of economics at Japan Women’s University. She is not a baseball fan. But Othani got her interested — at least in short term.

“Ohtani changed image of Japanese and helps transcend ir complex feelings toward Westerners,” she explained.

“When I was young, re was a huge gap in ability between American players and Japanese players. Japanese players are shorter and not able to compete, but now Ohtani changed image of Japanese baseball players. He is tall, fit and a superstar.”

Ohtani is only MLB player from Oshu City, although ors have come from nearby. Pitcher Yusei Kikuchi also attended Hanamaki Higashi High School, and Rintaro Sasaki — son of Ohtani's high school coach — is a phenom who skipped professional baseball in Japan altoger and currently plays at Stanford.

But no one generates buzz back home like Ohtani. Earlier this year, a local rice pdie was used as an “artist's canvas” with Ohtani's image in Dodger's blue and wearing No. 17 — with Decoy alongside — cut into green field. likeness if unmistakable.

Oshu Mayor Jun Kuranari talked about Ohtani as an inspiration, and rice pdie might be an example. He also brought up Ohtani as a role model.

“He plays with such a pure heart, and his performance is amazing,” mayor said. "But what I think is also amazing is that he is able to stay humble while playing so well. He is a role model for everyone, and also makes locals proud.”