"You're really watching!" Fan's sharp comment surprised Atsushi Nohmi as he held a fan meeting in Taiwan [Pacific League Taiwan Promotion Part 2] | Pacific League - NPBHUB

　In the first part, we focused on the baseball clinic for top schools given by special guest for this Taiwan promotion, Nomi Atsushi, and the “Wakuwaku Japan Festival,” a joint event with the Taiwanese professional baseball team, the Fubon Guardians. In the second part, we will cover the fan meeting event held in Taipei on September 7th, and the sale of Pacific League League merchandise exclusive to Taiwan.

Taiwan-exclusive The Fighters merchandise [©HNF ©STANCAVE]Taiwan’s first “real” fan meeting held – fans delighted by Nomi’s lively talk

On September 7, a fan meeting was held at the San Creative Life Park in Taipei City with Atsushi Noumi as a guest speaker.

This was PLM’s first “real” fan meeting, as last December’s fan meeting with guests from Rakuten Eagles, Chia-Hao Sung, pitcher, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, Yi-Lei Sun, and pitcher was held online only. The event was facilitated by former professional baseball player Luo Kuo-ting, who also serves as a commentator for DAZN Taiwan’s Pacific League broadcasts.

Mr. Takashi Takagi, Deputy General Manager of PLM’s Media Rights Business Department, opened the event by introducing the nine Taiwanese players from the Pacific League six teams. “I hope you will continue to support them as they take on the challenges of a foreign country, Japan, in a different language, culture, and climate,” he said emphatically.

And when Mr. Nomi entered to loud applause, the host, Mr. Luo, opened with the question, “How are you able to maintain the same style as when you were a newcomer? Mr. Nohmi responded with a laugh, “You just have to eat! He then added with a laugh, “Actually, I have a constitution that does not allow me to gain weight, and when I was working, I had to force myself to put on weight in order not to lose it.

The fan meeting started off with predictions for the PERSOL CS Pacific Tournament and introductions of notable players from the six teams. Orix When asked which team he thought would win the championship and which team would finish in the top three of the Persol CS Pacific, Noumi predicted that Fukuoka Softbank would be favored based on their opponents in the remaining games, and that the battle for third place would be difficult to predict because each team has its own strengths and weaknesses, but he said, “I think The Buffaloes. The fans cheered.

The PLM selected Pacific League six teams to be featured, followed by the names of Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Kota Tatsu pitcher, Rakuten Eagles and Rui Muneyama players, Saitama Seibu and Tatsuya Imai pitcher, Chiba Lotte and Kyota Fujiwara players, Orix and Ryuhei Sotani pitcher, Fukuoka Softbank and Tatsuru Yanagimachi players.

Nomi’s evaluations of each player were all very interesting, but I would like to introduce the part where he referred to Soya pitcher, the junior player of Orix.

Mr. Luo, the moderator, waved Soya pitcher ‘s admirer pitcher is “a southpaw from the same Kansai region, good-looking, with a high strike out rate, and I hear he still maintains a slim style,” Nomi said. I heard he is a southpaw from the same Kansai region, good-looking, with a high rate, and still maintains a slim figure. I was the target player. There are better players out there, but at that point I thought she was low level. ……” The audience laughed, and he smiled, “But I’m glad you said that.

Although he and Soya pitcher were not placed in the same order in Orix, and a competitive selection was expected, Mr. Nomi had prepared a piece of colored paper saying “Congratulations on joining Orix” before the draft meeting, which was safely handed to Soya through the team staff after the selection. In response to Luo’s request, Nomi further explained the difference between Soya’s pitcher and his own slider, with a demonstration of the “cutting” method.

Nomi explains how to cut slider [©PLM]The Q&A was lively. Nomi couldn’t help but respond to the sharp comments, saying, “Hey, you’re watching!”

　続いて行われたQ＆Aコーナーでは、能見氏に日本語で質問する現地のファンも登場するなど、大いに盛り上がった。今回は、その一部をご紹介する。

「オリックスの元選手・コーチとして、誰がチームのエースとなってくれると期待していますか」という問いに能見氏は、曽谷龍平投手の名前を挙げた後、「もう一人、左のちょっと身長の低い、態度のデカいのがいるんですけど……」と愛のある冗談を交えながら宮城大弥投手の名を挙げ、「やっぱり彼が頑張ってもらわないとね」と強い期待を示した。また、ファンから名を挙げられた山下舜平大投手については「持っているものは埼玉西武の今井達也投手と変わらない。すごいボールを投げます」とポテンシャルを絶賛し、「あとは、フィジカルが万全になれば」と加えた能見氏。

　セ・リーグのDH制導入については、投手が怪我をするリスクが減る上、打てるけど守れずにこれまで出場機会を得られなかった野手のチャンスが増えるとして「賛成」と断言。野球人口が減っている中、“打つことに特化した選手”の道が開けるのではと予想していた。

　また、ファンならではの鋭いコメントも寄せられ、「山本由伸投手や宮城大弥投手とのやり取りはまるで親子のようでした」と聞いた能見氏は、思わず「よう見てんな～」と反応。「両投手とは良い関係でやっていたので、僕も自然と表情を出すようになった」と振り返った。

　続けて、羅氏から「表情関連の話題では、ある選手から、能見さんはグラウンド上で笑顔を見せそうになった時、グラブで隠すと聞きましたが本当ですか」と聞かれると、「はい、隠しますよ」と能見氏。後に、張奕投手から聞いた話と知ると「なるほど……張奕か。見てるな」とニヤリと笑ってみせた。

From charms to apparel! Taiwan-exclusive Pacific League merchandise on sale

The fan meeting was not the only first initiative for promotion in Taiwan. PLM also launched a milestone initiative in the Taiwanese market: the sale of Pacific League team merchandise exclusive to Taiwan.

Pacific League This time PLM collaborated with Taiwanese companies Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, Saitama Seibu, and Chiba Lotte to sell Taiwanese-only jersey, caps, T-shirts, and amulets for the three teams.

The wool blend caps, cotton T-shirts, and reversible jersey are all simple and stylish, making them perfect for town use.

In addition, the Japanese-style “amulet” with the team’s pet logo embroidered on the front of the team-colored fabric and the Chinese characters of the team’s name in Taiwanese Chinese on the back is a limited edition item for baseball fans in Taiwan. Product samples were displayed in the PLM booth at the Fubon Guardians’ “Waku Waku Japan Festival” and attracted a great deal of attention from fans.

Pacific League relay for the 12th consecutive year, collaboration with Taiwanese professional baseball teams, baseball events including classrooms and fan meetings, and merchandising, it can be said that Pacific League ‘s focus on the Taiwanese market has also been felt by baseball fans in Taiwan.

Finally, Mr. Takagi of PLM, who has been in charge of all aspects of the Taiwan promotion, from planning to public relations and management, since 2023, looks back on the past three years as follows:

“Three years ago, the number of Taiwanese players in Pacific League was declining and the league was struggling, leading to poor viewing figures. Taking this into consideration, we decided to strategically move away from a passive approach of simply having fans watch live streams and instead proactively reach out to Taiwanese fans, creating multiple touchpoints. A recent survey showed that 54% of people had become fans of the six Pacific League teams in the past three years, so we feel we have made some progress. This was all made possible thanks to the efforts of Taiwanese professional baseball teams, Taiwanese media, Taiwanese companies, and our current distribution partner, DAZN Taiwan.”

Of the nine Taiwanese players playing for the six Pacific League teams, the majority are currently being developed in the farm team, but all are promising stars. When they all become mainstays on the first team, Pacific League enthusiasm in Taiwan will surely grow even more. We hope that Japan-Taiwan exchange projects through baseball will become even more active.

Text by Hide Komada