Japan is ‘in mourning’ after the shock marriage announcement of Shohei Ohtani, who revealed on Thursday that he had wed a mystery woman. The notoriously private baseball star, who joined the Dodgers this offseason, said on Instagram that he was starting not only ‘a new chapter in my career but I also began a new life with someone from my native country of Japan who is very special to me…’
And fans in his home country were hit particularly hard by the news of its ‘prince charming’ getting hitched, The Japan Times wrote, in an article titled ‘Ohtani is taken. It’s enough to make you cry.’ ‘It seems that literally everyone and their moms were in mourning over the loss of a possible fairy-tale marriage with Japan’s prince charming,’ the newspaper said. ‘Female colleagues in their late 20s and early 30s said that their natural response was to share the pain with their moms.’
Ohtani noted afterwards through an interpreter that he had married ‘a normal Japanese woman,’ according to the AP, which was apparently a small consolation to some in his home country. ‘It would appear that Ohtani – a humble and driven ‘good boy’ – has not tied the knot with a celebrity, and this was a cause for celebration for many,’ the Japan Times wrote.
Ohtani, a two-way baseball star who is the reigning AL MVP, boasts 7.5million Instagram followers and is a hugely popular figure and source of national pride in Japan. The Japan Times added that the term ‘shitsuren kyuuka’ – which means ‘heartbreak leave’ – was trending on X after the news broke, as was ‘Dekopin’ (the name of Ohtani’s dog) and ‘marriage announcement’
Ohtani’s announcement even caught the Dodgers off-guard, as the team’s manager Dave Roberts said from spring training. ‘I’m very happy for him and his bride,’ Roberts said, via AP. ‘As far as wedding gifts, we got surprised and didn’t have much time to think about it. I’m sure it’s en route.’
In the Instagram post announcing his marriage, which racked up almost 1.5million likes in just one hour, the 29-year-old also said, ‘The two of us [and our dog] will support each other and we hope to move forward together with all of our fans.
He added that he and his wife were ‘still immature in many ways, but we would appreciate your kind support’. The attention-shy Ohtani even declined to reveal his dog’s name after the canine appeared alongside him as he accepted his 2023 AL MVP.
He later explained that his dog is called ‘Decoy’ and that he thought the Japanese name – Dekopin – would be difficult for Americans to pronounce. Ohtani joined the Dodgers in December on a historic 10-year, $700million deal following weeks of speculation. It’s the most lucrative contract in the history of North American sports. The designated hitter and pitcher, who will not take the mound this season due to injury, made his Dodgers spring training debut on Tuesday and hit a home run vs. the White Sox.
