| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣體育運動大學 === 體育研究所 === 104 === Japan first introduced baseball to Taiwan. As early as the Japanese colonial regime, Taiwanese baseball players would go to Japan to learn and train in baseball. But after 1949, when the Republic of China withdrew to Taiwan, Taiwanese players were prevented from going to Japan for a period of 30 years. It wasn’t until the 1980s that it became popular for Taiwanese to play baseball in Japan again.This research analyzes the experiences and challenges of Taiwanese athletes playing in Japan during the 1980s. The objective of the research is to explore Japan’s social and cultural characteristics, the conflicts between Taiwanese and Japanese players due to differences in culture, the effects of racism and nationality, and the difficulties of Taiwanese players experienced during the time in Japan. This research uses documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, through which four Taiwanese baseball players were asked. The research discovers four major findings. First, Japanese baseball culture emphasizes hazing and absolute obedience. Collectiveness and harmony in the team are important traits. Second, there is significant difference between Japanese professional baseball and that of Taiwan. For example, when Japanese coaches fix Taiwanese player’s batting swings, one would completely lost the feeling for swing. Third, the overseas career of Taiwanese players was severely limited by the quotas of foreign players in Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. This decreases the chances for Taiwanese players to play in the first team. Fourth, because of the quotas, Taiwanese players needed to live up to the expectations of Japanese owners in order to stay in the first team. Otherwise their existence would be made redundant as a result of lack of opportunities.
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