Jason Sterman talks 'Homecoming: The Tokyo Series' on Japan's baseball bond
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What is 'Homecoming: The Tokyo Series' about?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. Midday's Tindall 2. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score.
Seeing, like, a slow base attempt. Hit and runs. As someone who grew up in the 90s, watching baseball threw me back to that era where it felt like it was a complete team, where the lineup was constructed to build off of each other and those small ball elements. Getting to experience the uniqueness, that element to those games with the cheering and chanting is so cool.
That was Cubs reporter for the Tribune, Megan Montemaro, in a new film coming out, Homecoming, the Tokyo series, a cinematic journey told through the people in passion who fuel the game in Japan. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. I'm one of the many who think that we didn't get to see enough of the Cubs' trip to Tokyo, and it sounds like this might help. The director and producer of that film is joining us now via our hotline. His name is Jason Sturman. He is also kind enough to join us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash TheScoreChicago. Thanks for coming on.
Thank you for having me.
So that was something that we talked, Jason, a lot about last year was the visuals seem so great.
How does baseball culture in Japan differ from the U.S.?
We saw a lot of stuff posted on social media by people like Taylor McGregor, the Cubs field reporter. But we didn't see a lot of content when you consider what this trip meant to Major League Baseball, both the Dodgers and the Cubs. And so for you to help bring this to people when they didn't get to see a lot of what went on in those trips, I think is a really big deal.
Oh, well, I mean, the opportunity presented itself by obviously the games being played. But I wanted to take an opportunity to kind of go explore baseball culture and tradition in Japan. I mean, we're all lucky enough to see players like Dota and Seiya play, as well as obviously like Otani and Yamamoto and Roki and the other Japanese players in the league. But I think the thing that's interesting, to me at least, is... We see them at their peak when they're here. Where is it that they come from? And using the Tokyo series last year as kind of an entry point into kind of going and exploring that question was the goal with this film.
And looking at this, I'm just curious, like what your starting point was, because obviously you have the idea for this. How scripted was this in terms of how you thought it would play out versus what actually happened when the cameras start rolling?
So we knew there was obviously going to be these games played, right? The Dodgers and the Cubs played two games. There was also four exhibition games. Each team, the Cubs and the Dodgers, both played two Nippon teams. So we knew what was on the schedule. Outside of that, it was really designed to allow for us to discover characters along the way. And so while we enter through the Tokyo Dome and the Tokyo series, where that leads us over the course of the film is...
What unique experiences did Jason Sterman have while filming?
We go and explore what Little League is like in Osaka. We go and explore what fandom is like in Northern Japan. We see the people who make bats in the Mizuno factory. We also see people who are refurbishing baseball mitts for kids and adults in a small area of Tokyo. One of the things that was really great, I think, and this does tie directly into the Cubs, the Cubs organization was great at letting us tag along with some of the things that they were doing off the field. And so we went with Derek Lee and Kusuke Fukudome along with Clark to a local elementary school just as like a meet and greet so that kid there could both see Fukudome, someone who came from Japan and went and played in Chicago, but also Derek Lee who spent time in Japan and now had come back.
So those experiences are really, I think, rewarding moments. for not only the kid, but audiences to see those reactions.
That's very cool, the Kosuke Fukudome part of it, because it hits home here. He played for both the Cubs and the White Sox. The other guy I wanted to ask you about as well, Jason, is Pete Crowe Armstrong, PCA, as he's known around here, seemed to build a really nice relationship with some of the fans in Japan.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is 'Homecoming: The Tokyo Series' about?
0:01–1:31
2
How does baseball culture in Japan differ from the U.S.?
1:31–3:09
3
What unique experiences did Jason Sterman have while filming?
3:09–7:44
4
How are Japanese baseball fans different from American fans?
7:44–10:36
5
What role do mascots play in Japanese baseball culture?
10:36–13:59
6
How did the Cubs' popularity manifest during the Tokyo series?
13:59–14:39
Speakers
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