Made in Iwate: New Shohei Ohtani Doc Spotlights L.A. Ace’s Rural Roots

The project, from filmmaker Max Whittle and in collaboration with Sports Illustrated’s SI TV, chronicles Ohtani’s upbringing in northern Japan, roughly 300 miles outside Tokyo.

'Ohtani: Made in Iwate' premieres Oct. 1 on SI TV. | Poster Design: Yohey Horishita

The quiet, rural town of Oshu in northern Japan’s Iwate Prefecture has long been known for its farming, traditional ironware and Maesawa waygu beef. These days, however, its most prized export is none other than Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ otherworldly ace and the MLB’s only two-way talent.

In June, documentary filmmaker Max Whittle joined forces with Canadian expat, interpreter and baseball guru Trevor Raichura to not only explore the city, located roughly 300 miles north of Tokyo, but also to capture the culture and community that raised baseball’s brightest star. Their findings and footage comprise the new documentary, Ohtani: Made in Iwate, which premiered Oct. 1 on SI TV. 

Whittle, who also directed SI TV’s Ciao Kobe, a film chronicling Kobe Bryant’s upbringing in Italy, says his work is often driven by a “childhood interest” in how athletes became who they are. 

“I wanted to understand physically what [Ohtani] went through growing up in Japan, where the baseball structure is incredible, but they don’t take time off. They play till it gets dark every day, weekends, holidays,” Whittle says. “And where his character comes from—I really got a sense of why he’s so polite, why he picks up trash on the field, why he bows his head when he goes to the plate every time.”

Whittle sits down with Hideki Kuriyama, Ohtani’s former manager. | SI TV/Sports Illustrated

Ahead of filming, Whittle spent months reaching out to individuals connected with Ohtani’s life and baseball career, hoping they would speak with him on the record. That process proved “really challenging,” he says, considering both the language barrier and the region’s deep respect for its prized player. Even so, the director successfully interviewed key figures such as Hideki Kuriyama, Ohtani’s former manager with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Samurai Japan, as well as Hiroshi Sasaki, the renowned coach at Ohtani’s high school.

What he and Raichura were unable to do, however, was speak with Ohtani’s family—not that they were expecting to.

“When you go to Oshu, everybody you interview says the same thing: ‘We are here to protect the Ohtani family, and we’ll never give out the parents’ address to any journalist,’ ” Whittle says. “I wasn’t asking for it. But they’re very protective of the family.”

Again, much of this comes down to the pride and respect the local community has for its homegrown talent. Indeed, if you think the love for the four-time MLB MVP runs deep in Tokyo, it is even stronger in Oshu, where the 17th of every month is “Ohtani Day,” in honor of his jersey number. When Whittle and Raichura visited the town’s library, their story made the newspaper. Multiple TV outlets covered the stop, too, proudly highlighting how a Western outlet had traveled all that way to spotlight the 6'4" pitcher.

A barber points Whittle toward a rice paddy modeled in Ohtani's likeness. | SI TV/Sports Illustrated

“The press is crazy,” Whittle says. “There are TV shows dedicated to him, adverts everywhere. He knows that. So I gained a level of respect—how does he deal with that pressure? He just seems like a nice bloke. No one had anything bad to say about him.”

“For somebody to do something on the other side of the world better than anyone else is doing it, especially in a game that was invented in America, it really sets people on fire,” adds Raichura. “They are so beyond proud of Shohei. And then, on top of that, you look at how he comports himself. People just have complete adoration for him.”

But as much as the film is about Ohtani, it is also about the vibrant baseball culture in Japan, where teams like the Orix Buffaloes and the Hanshin Tigers dominate the sporting scene. In these parts, tradition is the name of the game, and fan involvement is near constant; at some stadiums, for instance, spectators release balloons onto the field as their own version of a seventh-inning stretch. At others, they fervently wave umbrellas when their team scores a run.

“I really want the two narratives,” Whittle explains. “I don’t just want it to be about Shohei. I want people to see what baseball culture is like in Japan, as the No. 1 sport. Those are the two themes that are always going to be running through the film.”

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