But a tough call--such as the one that cost Japan a game against the U.S. in the baseball Classic just as we went to press--will tend to inflame passions anew.

FORBES: Magazine Article

It has been expanding into niche markets, including environment- and energy-related businesses, and owns a professional baseball team in Japan.

WSJ: Japan's Orix Buys Dutch Asset Manager

MLB, which controls international licensing rights to its 30 teams, says baseball wants to capitalize on the Yankees-Red Sox feud in besuboru-crazy Japan.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The involvement of Asics, which makes baseball player Ichiro Suzuki's spikes and is Japan's biggest sporting-goods company, in Thursday's accident led some activists to call for more pressure on non-Western brands to join efforts to tighten their supply chains.

WSJ: 3 Die in Cambodia Factory Collapse

Baseball's biggest event, the World Series, is a non-event outside of North America and Japan.

FORBES: Soccer Vs. Baseball