2007 Baseball Catalogs
These are the new 2007 catalogs published by the major Japanese baseball manufacturers.

To start playing baseball, you need to prepare basic goods. A glove to catch a ball. A bat to hit a ball. A cap and a helmet to protect your head. Maybe a pair of spikes to run around the diamond. Baseball needs different kinds of goods and equipment.

That is why ballplayers love to look at the items on catalogs in details. I know one guy who has been playing baseball since he was a little boy. He spends hours and hours to look at page to page of the catalog. He says it is fun to spend time imagining himself playing with a sweet glove and other nice things. As the quality of baseball goods makes a lot of difference in his performance, he should be picky in choosing what he uses.

The above catalogs are all in Japanese. But they carry many pictures of each manufacturer's original products which you would enjoy looking at. They are like a treasure box for ballplayers.

Homepage http://homepage2.nifty.com/us-sports/

Hanshin Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!!
As well known by WBC(World Baseball Classic), there are many baseball ("yakyu" in Japanese) fans in Japan. We love to watch Major League games because of several Japanese Major Leaguers' great performance. Major League baseball is tremendously dynamic and powerful. Actually many Japanese professional baseball players have a dream to play in Major League.・・・But still we love the Japanese baseball "yakyu".

There is one professional baseball team named "Hanshin Tigers" which located in Kobe-Osaka area. (Well, this name is of course came from "Detroit Tigers". It's a copy! Cute, isn't it?!) This team has been supported by great many fans for many years. The team's lucky colors are yellow and black, the color combination of tiger fur. Fans put something black and yellow on when they go to the games. This team is loved by real fans. But one sad thing was ・・・they couldn't win. Even they win one game, they couldn't win two games in a row. They always ended up with the B class every season , which made their fans very sad and miserable.

Several years ago finally the top people of the team did something to make the team strong, "restructuring"! They were tired of being beaten. The changes started appearing little by little. Their performance was getting better and better. They even won 7 games in a row. The fans went crazy. Then the Hanshin Tigers became the Champion of the Central League in 2003 after 18 years of suffering. I think it is very easy to imagine how happy their fans were with this triumph. Here is a commemorative golden glove for the honor. The golden glove! Isn't this something?

T-shirt with a sentence on the back
One thing very popular these days in Japan is wearing a T-shirt with a Japanese sentence on the back. This ASICS T-shirt is one of the best selling T-shirt. It says "If you are serious, put ASICS on!" The caracters are written like calligraphy.

The Japanese young people tend to prefer more westernized things, such as music, clothes, hair style, food, and even lifestyle. T-shirts with logos of the American companies and brands have been the champion of T-shirts for a long time. But a new trend came up. I am not sure when it started, maybe a couple years ago. Very Japanese classic designs with paintings and Chinese characters have appeared on T-shirts. They think it's cool to wear Japanese tastes as a fashion.
Some athletes make their own T-shirts with the original design. They make up sentences which express their beliefs, goals, and spirit. I believe they get power and energy for the best performance by wearing the favorite T-shirts of their own.

Custom-made Baseball glove
There are many "custom-made" things. Things you make to order with your own size, tastes, use, and so on. Typical examples I think of are suits, dresses, shoes, and drapes. A baseball glove can be made to order too. Then what can you do on a custom-made glove?
You can choose the following parts of a glove. Leather, size, web style, felt style and colors of body, lining, lacing, binding, welting, and moton. In addition to these, you can put your own name and uniform No. if you want. This makes your glove very unique and special. Your glove will be the only one in the world.
These are the manufacturers in Japan for custom-made baseball gloves.
Mizuno: Mizuno Pro Order (made in Japan) 57,750 yen
Zett: PROSTATUS Order System (made in Japan) 54,600 yen
SSK: Glove Special Order System (made in Japan) 50,400 yen
Xanax: Trust Special Order System (made in Japan) 55,650 yen
Kubota Slugger: Slugger Glove Order System (made in Japan) 52,500 yen
Nike: Diamond Elite Glove Order System (made in Japan) 55,650 yen
Rawlings by Asics: Special Order System (made in Japan) 53,550yen
*The prices are for gloves, not mitts.

You would be able to play like Ichiro and Matsui with your own personalized glove!

Is this Japanese PROSTATUS too expensive?
We sell baseball gloves. Maybe 15 to 20 gloves a month. People who don't play baseball understand ballplayers cannot play baseball without a glove, but I bet they would be surprised by the price of high grade, so called "pro model" gloves, especially made in Japan.

I looked into the American websites where baseball gloves are sold through internet. The average price of upper grade gloves is US$200.00 - 250.00. Here is an example. How much do you think is the glove of this picture (Zett PROSTATUS 2007 new model)? It is about US$360.00! Wow! Expensive isn't it?! So what is the difference between $200.00 and $360.00? The answer is "quality"! I know this answer is simple and ordinary. But I can't find another appropriate word to express it. One of our customer who bought the same model as the picture sent me email saying, "...out of the box, the craftmanship and detail are easily seen, like a very expensive shoe and seems to smell different from the gloves I have had in the past...super stiff foam or something in the thumb and pinky fingers are the same stiffness which tells you the glove maker intended on this glove lasting and keeping its shape for a long time and protecting your fingers at the same time!!...so on. " I was impressed by his synopsis. He checked and sensed all the details as soon as he looked at the glove in his hands. Now he is a happy man with his new glove, which costed $360.00. He said the glove is worth it!

It is difficult to show this kind of difference with pictures. Gloves look almost same on pictures. This is my challenge. In case I sell Japanese sporting goods through internet, not over-the-counter, how do I express the differences in qualities of the products? Only pictures, customers cannot look directly, touch or smell. How can I make ballplayers be willing to pay $360.00 for a Japanese glove?
Homepage: http://homepage2.nifty.com/us-sports/

Mizuno New Logo (MRB) for 2007 baseball products
Do you know Mizuno has changed their logo on their baseball products this year from Big "M" mark to MRB (Mizuno Run Bird)? Which one do you like better? It seems quite many Japanese ball players prefer the big "M", especially on bats and gloves. Is it just because they are not used to the new logo? Or the big "M" looks stronger than the bird?
One reason why Mizuno has changed the logo is their strategy for their international business. Mizuno had different logos for different brands for many years. In order to broad their business in foreign countries in the coming years, they decided to unify the logo. You will see only the MRB mark on Mizuno products in any countries, not only baseball products but also swimming items, Judo uniforms, other athletic outfits, etc.
Well, whenever new thing comes up, it takes time to get used to it. Once you get used to it, you come to like it, don't you?

One phonecall brougth this idea to me. That was a guy calling from LA. First thing he said when my co-worker answered the phone was "Can you speak English? If you can, help me to get Mizuno Pro custom glove. I want it!" Well, well ... Yes I can a little bit ... so I talked to him. One big questin came up to me. Why? You live in the country where baseball is the national sports, the kingdom of baseball! Of course I asked him back, "Why don't you get a glove there in the U.S.? I bet you can get a excellent one, can't you?" Unexpectedly he said, "The quality of gloves here is not as good as those in Japan. I want a glove made in Japan!" Wow! Are you serious? No problem. That is my job!

After that sansational(?) conversation, we talked a lot on the phone and we mailed back and forth many times. Finally he got a beautiful Mizuno Pro glove made in Japan, only one in the world. He loves it. I am sure he is going to keep winning this season with his new glove! Cool!