The Cooperstown of Japan

Tokyo: Call it the Cooperstown of Japan. After all, it is in the heart of Tokyo where the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is found, nestled into the side of the Tokyo Dome, home of the Yomiuri Giants. It is also said to be the birthplace of baseball in Japan. Credit for introducing the game goes to an American English professor from Maine named Horace Wilson, who in 1872 presented it to students at what is now Tokyo University. As the story goes, Wilson, who had been hired by the government to help in the modernization of the Japanese education system, decided the students needed more physical exercise, and Japanese baseball was born.

The Hall of Fame in Tokyo not only portrays the history of baseball in Japan since Wilson’s time but also makes evident the links it has had over the years to professional baseball in the States.

The museum starts with the modern scene in a room featuring uniforms and memorabilia