#74 Understanding Japan Through Baseball | Robert Whiting

With the Tokyo Olympics on people’s minds, I thought it would be good to have at least one episode focused on Japan, a country I love.  I had the incredible pleasure of living there for nearly three years. It was a place of endless fascination for me. It was also a place where I could learn more deeply about psychology itself because it was so culturally different from my home in the United States. It allowed me to question phenomena I took for granted and, doing so, it gave me greater insight into this experience of being human. One of my great teachers—at least through his writing—was my guest on this episode, Robert Whiting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whiting). Bob has written several books on Japanese baseball that describe Japanese culture by how the game is approached in Japan. His books have been read regularly in academic institutions, governmental institutions, and at least two sitting US presidents have read his books to better understand their important ally.  The San Francisco Chronicle described one of these books as not only one of the best baseball books ever but “one of the best-written sports books ever.” I agree. And while I have read many books about Japan, his most recent, Tokyo Junkie, is one of the best books on Japan I've read. It chronicles his fascinating 60-year relationship with the city of Tokyo, as it grew from a post-war city to its present state of an international economic hub. He also shares stories about his relationships with famous wrestlers, baseball players, politicians, and even members of Tokyo’s crime syndicate. So, listen in as Bob and I talk about living as an ex-pat in Tokyo as well as how one can understand Japan far better by understanding how it approaches baseball. Book link: https://amzn.to/3X7WbLx This is an affiliate link. It will provide me with a small commission on purchases made through it and help the podcast (but it won’t affect the price you pay).