<figure id="attachment_461695" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-461695" style="width: 2698px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e35ccf95"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/03/9e17f06a375fb1acee4fffc2fd4c6677.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-461695" class="wp-caption-text">Ohtani upon arrival in the U.S. T-shirt and cap by New Balance, headphones by Beats, both sponsors.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> I&#8217;m scared to cover Otani.</h2>
 Shohei Otani, 31, was the face of Samurai Japan in the WBC. Although his team lost in the quarterfinals, Otani, who hit three home runs and was named one of the best nine players in the tournament, showed an outstanding presence off the field as well. Every single move he made during the tournament was supported by a variety of sponsors.
 He wore either HUGO BOSS or New Balance products when he traveled. What was surprising was that the mattress in the room prepared for Otani at his accommodation for this tournament had been deliberately changed to one of Otani&#8217;s favorites developed by Nishikawa, a bedding manufacturer.
 The room was also prepared with Ito En&#8217;s green tea and Meiji&#8217;s &#8220;Zabasu&#8221; protein brand. Otani has sponsorship contracts with all of these companies.
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 (Samurai insider) &#8220;So far, this is not unusual for other top athletes, but in Otani&#8217;s case, even his personal security was taken care of by his sponsors.
 In Ohtani&#8217;s case, however, even his personal security was taken care of by his sponsor. In the previous tournament in 2011, Otani traveled with the team from Nagoya to Osaka and from Osaka to Tokyo by bullet train, but it would be too late if there was an &#8220;emergency. However, it was too late for him to be protected in case of an &#8220;emergency.&#8221; Therefore, several uniformed and plainclothes SPs were organized as &#8220;Team Otani&#8221; to protect the team. His teammates watched with bated breath, saying, &#8220;He&#8217;s a little bit special &#8230;&#8230;.
 It was not only sponsors that supported Otani. The media who covered the tournament also applied the &#8220;Ohtani Rule&#8221; to their coverage.
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 The organizers told us not to report anything about Ohtani off the field, and although fans uploaded videos and images of the players on social networking sites, we were not allowed to take any pictures of them. &#8230;&#8230; (A key station staff member)
 In addition to this, the media outlets had self-imposed rules.
 Before the first game of the tournament, all the media outlets, as if in concert, said, &#8216;Even if we can capture Otani&#8217;s broken expression or funny face, let&#8217;s not post or broadcast it,&#8217; and they all agreed. There was no such rule for other players. &#8230;&#8230;
 This is because when he moved to the Dodgers, several TV stations took the liberty of covering the Otani residence, which he had just purchased, and the Otani side was furious about it. Since then, Otani has always questioned the reporting attitude of the Japanese media, and the media has been overly cautious, saying, &#8220;If Otani doesn&#8217;t like us, we&#8217;re finished. &#8230;&#8230; A number of media outlets have expressed their true feelings, saying, &#8220;I enjoy covering the WBC, but I don&#8217;t want to cover Otani because it&#8217;s too scary.
 Sponsors provided food, clothing, shelter, and even transportation, and the media had special rules. Everything was out of the ordinary.

 Kyodo News

 Shohei Otani, 31, was the face of Samurai Japan in the WBC. Although his team lost in the quarterfinals, Otani, who hit three home runs and was named one of the best nine players in the tournament, showed his outstanding presence off the field as well.

Shohei Ohtani&#8217;s &#8220;Outstanding Star&#8221; at the WBC: &#8220;Even his private SP is sponsored&#8221; and &#8220;Voluntary regulation prohibiting funny faces&#8221;&#8230;

Shohei Ohtani’s “Outstanding Star” at the WBC: “Even his private SP is sponsored” and “Voluntary regulation prohibiting funny faces”…

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