Hero’s Welcome

If Hideki Matsui was popular in Japan before he left for the major leagues, affection for the gentle giant has only soared in his absence.

His enduring hold on the Japanese public was confirmed Sunday by the ecstatic reception he received when he returned to his homeland and hit a home run in a 6-2 victory by the New York Yankees in an exhibition against the Yomiuri Giants.

It mattered little that Matsui was batting against his former teammates and in front of their loyal fans. It was just like old times as the ball soared deep into the right-center field bleachers and a capacity crowd in the Tokyo Dome rose to its feet.

“We love him because he has such a nice personality and is so modest,” said Saeko Takasugi, a 22-year-old office worker. “He’s gone over to the U.S. and been really successful, but it hasn’t changed him. People feel a bit of a distance with Ichiro [Suzuki] or [Tsuyoshi] Shinjo because it seems they are trying to be cool.

“But everyone in Japan from children to the elderly likes Matsui.”

The Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays will open the 2004 major league season with games here Tuesday and Wednesday. Since ending the 2003 season with a loss to the Florida Marlins in the World Series, the Yankees have dominated the headlines in the U.S. with such high-profile acquisitions as American League most valuable player Alex Rodriguez and All-Stars Gary Sheffield and Kevin Brown.

But in Japan, no one is talking about Rodriguez or the Yankees’ arms race with the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. The focus is on Matsui, who in 10 seasons in Japan hit 332 home runs, won three MVP awards and led his team four times to the Japan Series.

The Yankee-Devil Ray games are sellouts and will be viewed by millions on live national broadcasts. “But what really interests Japanese is not how the major league teams do, but how Japanese do in the major leagues,” said Itaru Kobayashi, a former professional player and an associate professor at Edogawa University. “No one over here followed MLB before Japanese players started going over.”

Until Matsui stepped up to bat in the second inning Sunday, the game had been in danger of playing out in almost creepy silence. The noisy, organized cheering that is usual at Japanese baseball was subdued when the Giants batted and nonexistent for the Yankees. But the church-like atmosphere was transformed as the object of reverence, Matsui, came to the plate.

After the game, Matsui addressed the admirers from a microphone at home plate.

“What I did out there was to show my deepest appreciation for the fans,” he said later through a interpreter. “Most importantly, however, at the same time I didn’t feel melancholy about it. I didn’t have any special attachment toward it, looking back at my Yomiuri Giants days. No, that didn’t happen. I just wanted to show them my gratitude.”

It has been 1 1/2 years since the man fondly called “Godzilla” left for the U.S., but his progress has been followed attentively in the media. Major league games are broadcast live nationally by NHK, albeit at unsociably early hours. In summer, beer gardens repeat Yankee games for those desperate for a dose of their hero.

Matsui continues to grace the cover of sports magazines and occupies his own corner in bookstores with works such as his “Major Rookie’s Diary,” “Godzilla Watch 2003,” “Godzilla Takes the Bronx” and “Matsui Speaks.” There is even a book called “Raising Matsui,” an account of his youth that provides hints on how to raise a genius with a pleasant personality. (Part of the Matsui legend is how he reacted calmly at the high school national baseball championships despite being repeatedly walked by frightened opponents.)

Stoic and calm, Matsui is almost the ideal of the Japanese gentleman. His aura is so powerful that his father has even had modest success with a CD, singing traditional Japanese enka.

In the eyes of many Japanese, the only fault attributable to Matsui is that he played for the Yomiuri Giants. The most successful, richest and best-supported club in the country has inevitably aroused some envy, especially from fans of the Hanshin Tigers of western Japan, the other Japanese team playing exhibitions against the Yankees and Devil Rays.

But Matsui of the Yankees stirs no such regional grudges, only national pride that a Japanese player can make it in the majors.

“We Japanese have something of an inferiority complex, perhaps because we lost the war. So when a Japanese does well in the U.S., people are happy, especially with Matsui, because he seems to be so like us,” Kobayashi said.

Said Hanshin fan Hiro Ueda, 34, of Tokyo: “I kind of hate the Giants, but I like Matsui because he is earnest and straight. I’d love to see him hit a home run and the Giants thoroughly thrashed. Anyway, Matsui actually wanted to play for Hanshin originally, not Giants.”

For Giant fans, mixed emotions were the order of the day. Some wore Yankee caps while others wore Giant uniforms. But the mood was summed up by those in T-shirts combining Giant orange with Matsui’s number 55 (or “Go! Go!” as it is pronounced in Japanese). Giant fans booed with disappointment as Matsui was walked in the fifth and sixth innings.

“I’m happy to see Matsui hit against us. He’s not an enemy but an old friend who has come back after doing well abroad,” said Hirotoshi Matsudai, a passionate 31-year-old Giant fan from Tokyo. “Because the Yankees are from the major leagues, I don’t feel so competitive toward them.”

But baseball experts say there is a certain amount of rivalry when an American team plays a Japanese team. “Sure, Japanese fans want to see the full power of a great team like the Yankees, but they root for their home team as the underdogs and look for the upset,” said Marty Kuehnert, an American baseball journalist in Tokyo. “They hope their boys will put up a good show, and the Japanese teams themselves have always approached these games seriously.”

It is the second time the major leagues’ opener has been held in Japan. In 2000, the Chicago Cubs played the New York Mets. Last year, plans to bring the Seattle Mariners, including three Japanese players -- Suzuki, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Shigetoshi Hasegawa -- were thwarted by the Iraq war.

But a small number of Japanese view these grand occasions with some distaste.

“We need a bit more respect for the Japanese game,” Kobayashi said. “Japan’s Pacific League actually started a few days ago, but here are MLB teams distracting attention from that with exhibition games in Tokyo. The Japanese media is excitedly talking about the MLB opener and calling the Yankees the ‘world’s best.’ It might be better if they were calling for a real World Series in which Japanese teams can compete.”

But for most Japanese baseball lovers, the Yankees’ visit is about getting reacquainted with the favorite son who came back.

“He seems to smile a lot more now,” said Shannon Higgins, a Japan-based baseball journalist. “I’m sure Matsui enjoyed it in Japan, but there was just so much expected from him and he had to keep delivering. Now it’s like he is really, purely enjoying the baseball and now able to play for himself.”

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Associated Press contributed to this report.