TOKYO — During the early innings of a nighttime exhibition between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants, Nori Kawana walked through the concourse of the Tokyo Dome in disbelief. As the head of Fanatics’ East Asia operation, Kawana leads MLB’s merchandising in Japan, and the day had already set his company’s sales record in Asia. He was willing to bet no other sports retailer had ever had a better day in the region, either.
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Seemingly every other fan at the Dome wore national hero Shohei Ohtani’s No. 17 jersey. Some 20 minutes after Kawana stopped to talk to a reporter, Ohtani ripped a home run to right field, and
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