By Jennifer Prillaman
In January, the general public affairs part (PAS) at Embassy Tokyo posted a narrative on social media about U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel’s assembly with Los Angeles Dodgers baseball celebrity and three-time Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani. Knowing that Ohtani’s canine Dekopin (“Decoy”) is the baseball world’s “Most Valuable Pup,” PAS Tokyo brainstormed to be sure that the ambassador was ready for his assembly with Ohtani.
Assistant Press Attaché Jennifer Prillaman and Digital Content Coordinator Takahiro Ueno threw their full efforts behind the bizarre however vital U.S.-Japan Alliance strengthening process of making an outsized “visa” for the canine, and Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer Adam Gallagher and Cultural Affairs Assistant Tatsuo Hayakawa brainstormed and ready USA-themed canine presents.
Emanuel gifted Ohtani with a U.S. National Parks guidebook with bookmarked dog-friendly parks, a “USA” canine hoodie, and a “visa” for Decoy to return again and go to Japan. In addition to going viral and receiving tens of millions of impressions on social media, the story was additionally the main night information story in native Japanese retailers, and made U.S. Associated Press, Major League Baseball, Yahoo Sports, People Magazine, and ESPN headlines. Ohtani additionally posted the canine visa to his Instagram with 6.9M followers, which helped the ambassador’s account achieve greater than 1,000 followers within the two weeks that adopted.
PAS Tokyo is saving its canine “visa” template as Ohtani’s fellow Japanese native and Dodgers teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto has publicly requested a “visa” for his personal canine, Mikan.
“If Mikan is able to obtain a visa soon, I hope that these two Los Angeles ‘Doggers’ will be able to have several playdates in the United States and Japan in the future,” stated Yamamoto.
Despite the lighthearted nature of the presents, baseball diplomacy is alive, thriving, and proving for Embassy Tokyo to be a enjoyable and efficient solution to promote U.S.-Japan relations.
Jennifer Prillaman is an assistant press attaché at Embassy Tokyo.
