Japan–South Korea baseball rivalry

The Japan–South Korea baseball rivalry is a sports rivalry contested between the national baseball teams of Japan and South Korea. One of many rivalries between the two East Asian countries, the two teams met officially at the 1954 Asian Baseball Championship and have contested several high-profile games since, including several Summer Olympics and the final of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The two teams are considered "arch-rivals", and the competition is one of the fiercest in international baseball.

Background
The baseball rivalry between Japan and South Korea is rooted in the historically contentious relationship between the two countries; Japan invaded the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century, and occupied it until being expelled after World War II. The Republic of Korea gained its independence shortly thereafter. However, diplomatic relations between the two countries would not be normalized until 1965, and even this was only accomplished after the suppression of public opposition in South Korea.

Even though baseball originated in both countries independently from each other, the sport's evolution in each country was affected by the other. For much of the 20th century, Korean players were prominent in Japan's professional leagues (including Isao Harimoto, a Zainichi Korean inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame). However, during the Japanese occupation, baseball was restricted on the Korean peninsula, and Korean players were only allowed to play in tournaments sponsored by Japanese companies. In this way, baseball also became a means of promoting Korean nationalism.

South Korea and Japan were two of the four founding members of the Baseball Federation of Asia in 1954. The two countries met for the first time later that year, when the Asian Baseball Championship was inaugurated in Manila. In the first game of the inaugural Asian baseball tournament, Korea suffered a 0–6 shutout to Samurai Japan. Korea won its first victory in the rivalry nine years later, defeating Japan 5–2 at the 1963 Asian Baseball Championship in Seoul.

History
One of South Korea's most dramatic victories over its neighbor took place at the 1982 Baseball World Cup, held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Trailing 0–2 in the bottom of the eighth, Kim Jae-bak hit a three-run homer off the foul pole, making South Korea the first Asian country to win the amateur baseball competition.

In the early 2000s, South Korea was considered by some to be a "rising power" in baseball, especially compared to more established baseball powerhouses like Japan. Some have pointed to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as the modern emergence of the rivalry, as South Korea beat Japan to win the bronze medal.

Before the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic, Japan's Ichiro Suzuki made several controversial comments about South Korea, claiming that the country "smells like garlic." He added that he wanted to beat South Korea bad enough to "make them see that they won't beat Japan for the next 30 years." South Korea responded by twice beating Japan, and Korean pitcher Jae Weong Seo planted two Korean flags on the mound while a visibly-angry Ichiro looked on. An editorial in the JoonAng Daily described Korea's run against Japan as "the most triumphant event in the 101 years of Korean baseball history." Despite Korea's perfect 3–0 in pool play, they were ultimately defeated by Japan 6–0 in a third, semifinal matchup; Japan moved on to take the championship game over Cuba.

At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, South Korea suffered bitter defeats in three major professional sports: association football, basketball, and baseball. The Korean baseball team, with expectations of a third consecutive gold medal, lost to a Japanese team composed mainly of amateur players. The Korean press labelled the incident "the Doha tragedy". Nevertheless, South Korea cemented their position with a gold medal finish at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, while Japan finished a disappointing fourth despite sending many top players from NPB.

Going into the 2009 World Baseball Classic, both Japan and South Korea were considered among the tournament favorites. Ichiro again courted controversy in the build-up to the 2009 tournament, making comments suggesting that the Koreans, with their "big bodies", played "American-style baseball" rather than "Japanese baseball", which some regarded as racially-charged. South Korea's Jung Bong pushed back on these comments, arguing that the Korean team was "not even all that big physically," but that its "level of focus and team unity is definitely better than Japan's." South Korea and Japan met in the final game of the tournament at Dodger Stadium. The Korean team managed a late-innings rally to tie the game with Samurai Japan, but Ichiro lined a two-out, two-strike single off of Korea's Chang-yong Lim — who had been directed not to pitch to Ichiro — in the 10th inning to drive in the winning runs.

Japan and Korea did not meet in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, as they were assigned to different pools; South Korea was eliminated in the first round, while Japan lost to Puerto Rico in the championship round. Instead, their next high-profile meeting was in the semifinals of the inaugural WBSC Premier12 tournament in 2015. Before a sold-out crowd at the Tokyo Dome, Samurai Japan starter Shohei Ohtani took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but Korea scored four runs in the ninth to rally past top-ranked Japan with a final score of 4–3.

Japan hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, adding baseball to the games for the first time since 2008. The tournament, delayed to 2021 and played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw South Korea and Japan meet in the semifinal round. Japan bested South Korea 5–2, though the game was marred by a controversial safe call on Kensuke Kondoh, who South Korea argued missed touching first base. The safe call, confirmed by replay review, allowed a rally that ended in a Tetsuto Yamada bases-clearing double, sending Japan to the gold medal game (which they eventually won over Team USA).

South Korea and Japan met again in the pool stage of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, hosted at the Tokyo Dome. In an interview, Korean pitcher Go Woo-suk suggested that he would be willing to intentionally hit Japan's Shohei Ohtani. The comments sparked backlash in Japan; Tokyo Sports went as far as suggesting that Go sought revenge on Japan after his poor performance at the 2020 Olympics. Go later apologized for his comments and said he had been joking. When the two teams met, Japan trounced South Korea by a score of 13–4, as Korea's bullpen fell apart in the middle innings and the team just barely avoided a mercy rule end to the game. The loss to Japan, along with an upset opening day loss to Australia, contributed to Korea's early exit from the tournament. Japan, meanwhile, managed to go on to the final, where they defeated the U.S. for their third WBC title.