No country on Earth is currently more excited about the World Baseball Classic than the home of the defending champions, Japan.
While the WBC is seen as the pinnacle of international baseball in the United States, and fans are pumped for the event to kick off in a few days, it’s not the same as the festivities going on in Japan.
You can walk outside in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and not know that the WBC is coming.
In Tokyo, though, or any other major city in Japan, it would be impossible to not know that the Samurai Japan baseball team is going for a repeat of their win in 2023.
Airports, malls, and grocery stores in Japan are covered wall to wall with Samurai Japan merchandise, posters, and Netflix advertisements telling you when they’ll start their journey for a historic fourth WBC crown.
But over the weekend, news broke that put a damper on Japanese fans’ excitement for the upcoming tournament.
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The Japanese fans will pay a premium to get inside the Tokyo Dome to watch their team play in the group stage and can cheer all they want, but they will not be allowed to film or take any photos of what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
A warning was sent to fans before the tournament begins next week: if they want to stay for the entire game, they’d better not try taking a photo of Shohei Ohtani or any of their favorite players on the field.
The rules state that “the transmission or assistance in the transmission, by any medium, of any photographs, images, video or audio” or “descriptions or commentary” of “all or part of a game, practice, pre-game, post-game or inter-inning activities” is prohibited.
Similar rules were sent out last year for Japan’s most-watched sports league, Nippon Professional Baseball, but were eventually quieted amid the massive backlash they received from fans.
While the same could happen with the WBC, as Japan only plays four games in the Tokyo Dome before hopefully jetting off to the United States for the bracket stage, time might not be on the fans’ side.
If a Japanese fan wants to take a video of their team playing baseball, their best option at this point is to buy a ticket to Houston or Miami for the quarterfinals.