By STEPHEN WADE AP Sports Writer
TOKYO — Hundreds of fans at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, who lined up 10 deep and hoped to catch a glimpse of Shohei Ohtani as he arrived on Thursday (late Wednesday night PT), saw nothing of the Dodgers superstar or his teammates.
What they saw was a 130-foot temporary white wall to shield the players in case they came through the arrival area. The Chicago Cubs exited this way when they arrived Wednesday night.
The Dodgers were seen on the tarmac disembarking from their charter from Phoenix, and Ohtani was one of the first off the plane. But the players didn’t make it to the arrival area, apparently taking an escape route as they begin their much-anticipated week in Japan.
The next chance to see Ohtani and the Dodgers will be Friday (Thursday night PT) when the teams open practice at the Tokyo Dome.
The two-game series to open the MLB season is Tuesday and Wednesday, early evening starts in Tokyo. Games will go live in the early morning (3 a.m. PT) the same day in North America. Japan is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles.
Fans waited for hours inside the terminal, hoping Ohtani would show up. Many carried signs of welcome. One was a bright yellow board that read: “I love LA.” Others wore Dodgers caps and shirts and other garb.
Several times excited fans reached high with smart phones, thinking Ohtani had arrived. It was always a false alarm with mere passengers from other flights coming into view.
Patient and polite, fans eventually departed the reception area when it was clear that Japan’s most famous citizen would not appear.
Most fans were hopeful, but realistic.
“I just came hoping for any chance I might see him. But I knew, probably not,” said Satoshi Yoshii, a local accountant.
Misaki Ueta came with her husband Reishi and a friend, Ryusei Takahashi. The two men wore Ohtani’s No. 17 Dodgers jersey.
“We just came to be able to breathe the same air,” Misaki said. “The Ohtani air.”
Others came for the event – like a rock concert.
“I don’t care if I can’t see him because I’m not really a fan of Othani,” said Kotomi Miyakoda. Standing alongside was her friend, also Kotomi – Kotomi Nakatsu.
“I’m not a fan but I want to see him, the person,” Nakatsu said.
This is billed as the “Japan Series” by MLB. It could be billed as the marketing-Ohtani-in Japan series. Othani is probably the country’s most famous citizen and MLB’s most marketable asset.
This is the second straight season that MLB has opened its season in Asia. Last year it was South Korea with the Dodgers and San Diego Padres where the gambling scandal broke around Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
Chris Marinak, MLB’s chief operations officer, talked about the advantages of having a player like Ohtani.
“It helps to have a generational talent like Ohtani – essentially the best player in the game – to be from a different market,” Marinak said. “It changes how you can communicate about the game in different markets.”