Shohei Ohtani has achieved great success in the United States and is now included in Japanese university English textbooks.

Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese two-way player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will appear in English textbooks for Japanese universities next year. The textbook "SUNRISE JAPAN," published by Nagumo-do, is anticipated to be used by around 100 universities and contains an account of Ohtani’s remote interview while playing for the Los Angeles Angels in 2022.

Tsuyoshi Chiba, 79, hails from Ofunato City in Iwate Prefecture (Ohtani is from Oshu City, also in Iwate Prefecture) and graduated from Hanamaki Kita High School (Ohtani graduated from Hanamaki Higashi High School). He said, “I hope to spark students’ interest in learning English by integrating current events. Baseball is also my passion, and it can bring energy to Japan.”

Tsuyoshi Chiba mentioned the process of applying to MLB for the rights to use Ohtani’s photos and discussed Ohtani’s transfer to the Dodgers in 2024. The project took four years from planning to publication, and he remarked, “It was as challenging as writing a novel.” Over time, Ohtani has added more achievements since the 2022 textbook material was gathered, including winning the 2023 World Baseball Classic, achieving the “50 home runs and 50 steals” record in 2024, and signing a $700 million contract. The textbook describes Ohtani as being regarded by some as the new “God of Baseball.”

The late “Mr. Japanese Baseball,” Shigeo Nagashima, was also included in textbooks in 2003. Some Japanese fans think it might be too early to include Ohtani while he is still active, similar to his former translator Ippei Mizuhara, who once appeared in textbooks but later became a negative example due to an illegal gambling scandal. Others point out that universities are not compulsory education, so the criteria for textbook selection naturally differ.