Most people think baseball is a uniquely American pastime, however it’s pretty big in Japan too.

When Steve Lewis, UniGroup’s Asia Pacific’s Managing Director, visited Tokyo recently, they took the opportunity to visit the local game. 

The game was an inter-league match-up between Central League’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows hosting the Pacific League Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – a rare opportunity to see teams from different leagues play. With close to 1,000 players in 12 teams within the Nippon Professional Baseball – a good proportion of these being foreign nationals - there is ample movement back and forth between Japan and their home countries. Just this year, UniGroup Relocation Japan had the opportunity to assist the family of Jason Standridge – a baseball player at the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks - relocate to Japan from the US, the move was completed to the utmost satisfaction of the Standridge family, without any damages. “Everything with my shipment went well,” Jason said, thanking UniGroup for making it a smooth and pleasurable experience.

Photo: Left to right – Remy Colemen, Steve Jewis, Yuko Yamanda, Miki Hoshina, Aki Nitta and Bradley Foster.