From the Desk of Consul General Osumi

2024/2/20
Essay Vol. 5
February 20, 2024
Yo Osumi
Consul General of Japan in San Francisco

 
The Super Bowl, held in Las Vegas on February 11th, was a major national event in the United States.
 
  The Bay Area’s hopes were high as the San Francisco 49ers, the hometown team that had not won a championship since 1995, were taking the field. City buses were speeding around with signs reading “GO NINERS!” The last two games in particular were one uphill battle after another, and we saw the unfolding of the Cinderella story of Brock Purdy, now the team’s undisputed quarterback.

There are many diehard 49ers fans at the Consulate, and we posted photos on Facebook and other social media the day before the game to cheer for the team.
 The opponent was the Kansas City Chiefs, said to be the best team in the world today. They have made it to the Super Bowl three times in four years, winning twice, and in 2020, they beat the 49ers 31-20. One of their key players, Travis Kelce, and singer Taylor Swift are famous for their relationship. Leading up to game day, Swift was on tour in Japan, and the public was wondering if she would be able to make it back to Las Vegas in time for her boyfriend's big day.

 
LOSS VEGAS
 The game started at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time on the 11th. We were invited to watch the game at the house of one of my son’s friends, so we drove over as a family. While there wasn’t much traffic in town, there were people walking around in red 49ers jerseys, and we passed a bar full of fans decked out in bright red.
 When we arrived, there were several other families there, but it seemed that the group was actually not that invested in American football. The father, Charles, who had invited us, said, “This is the first time I’m watching a football game this year.” America is a big place, isn’t it? So we chatted over nachos, and before we knew it, the game had started. The 49ers were leading from start to finish, but it was a close game, and in the last ten minutes everyone was watching with bated breath as the score was 19-16, 49ers leading. In the final seconds of the game, the Chiefs made a 3-point field goal to make it 19-19. In overtime, the 49ers stubbornly protected their 22-19 lead, and with just a few seconds remaining, they were moments away from holding the trophy in their hands… And at that moment, the Chiefs scored a touchdown to come back 25-22 and that was it. The result was so crushing it left everyone speechless.   (photo:San Francisco Chronicle、February 12th, 2024)
 
 Many people took the next day off work. When I went out to the office, my colleague, one of the previously mentioned die-hard fans, said, “Thank you, you did a great job” to the 49ers. He spoke on behalf of the entire city.
 
From Mr. Irrelevant to Cinderella Man
 One of the reasons San Francisco and the Bay Area were so excited this year was the dramatic story of quarterback Brock Purdy. Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City quarterback, is an elite player who had already played in three Super Bowls and won two. It was interesting to see how the baby-faced, somewhat unreliable Purdy would fare against him, but he was evenly matched and came within a hair's breadth of the championship. Only two quarterbacks in history have led the 49ers to a Super Bowl championship. It will be interesting to see if this former Mr. Irrelevant will become a legend in the future. (photo: San Francisco Chronicle, February 12th, 2024) 
 

Thoughts on the Rebirth of San Francisco
 It occurred to me that there was a pervasive pessimism in San Francisco, that people felt things were not going well in the city, which I felt doubled the 49ers' desire to win. Following the pandemic, teleworking has become the norm, especially in the tech industry, and demand for office space has decreased, which has deeply impacted the restaurant industry. More businesses are also avoiding the city due to homelessness and public safety issues, so the vacancy rate in the city center has gone from a few percent before Covid-19 to over 35%. Reflecting the public's desire to see the city do something about this issue, the mayoral election this fall will see a number of candidates who will tackle the issue of homelessness and public safety head on, and the current mayor has begun to strengthen measures to deal with those issues, including increasing the number of police officers.
 Winning the Super Bowl does not mean that anything will change dramatically. Even if you lose, time will continue to march forward regardless. Still, I felt that winning that Super Bowl would bring "luck" to the city, and that such a thought must have been on the minds of the 49ers players.
サンフランシスコの風景
What are the 49ers?
 By the way, what are the 49ers? I was curious. I remembered learning in my world history class that the California Gold Rush began around the Sacramento River in 1848, and the forty-niners were the people who came from all over the world from 1848 to 1849. The 49ers’ mascot, Sourdough Sam, is one of them, a gold miner trying to strike it rich. His name refers to sourdough bread, eaten by miners since it doesn’t spoil easily. The 49ers cheerleaders’ group name is “Gold Rush.”
 
 Incidentally, did you know that John Manjirō—a famous figure who appears in Japanese history textbooks—is also a forty-niner?
 Two years ago I was on vacation with my family doing a loop of Shikoku (the smallest of Japan’s four main islands), and we visited a museum in Kochi City. I learned that Manjirō was lost while fishing off the coast of Kochi in 1841 at the age of 14, and survived for 143 days by catching albatrosses that came to him on Torishima (a deserted island near the Ogasawara Island chain), eating them raw since he had no fire. He was saved by an American whaling ship and travelled to the U.S. before Commodore Perry’s arrival in Japan in 1853. I also bought a picture book about Manjirō at a bookstore in Kochi City.
 When I arrived in the United States for my current posting, I "re-discovered" that Manjirō was adopted by the captain who rescued him. He went on to study hard in Massachusetts, graduating at the top of his class, and earned his living on a whaling ship. He dreamed of returning to Japan, and took a steamboat from San Francisco up the Sacramento River to work in a gold mine at the height of the gold rush. He used the money earned there to return home.               
 After returning to Japan, Manjirō was imprisoned, but after Japan opened to the outside world, he was invited by the Shogunate to Edo (now Tokyo), where he was given the family name of Nakahama. In 1860, at the age of 33, he boarded the Kanrin Maru as an interpreter and technical guide, crossing the Pacific and landing again in San Francisco. It took only about ten years from the gold rush to the arrival of the Kanrin Maru. Ten years later, in 1870, the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco was opened as the first modern, overseas Japanese diplomatic mission.
 Although the gold rush dried up within a few years, it became an opportunity for San Francisco, which had been the northern edge of the Spanish territory that had previously included Mexico, to drastically increase in population and further its own unique development as natural port. San Francisco became the "Gateway to the World" for Japan, which opened its borders around then, and flourished as a financial center, with the establishment of Wells Fargo Bank here in 1852 and Bank of America in 1902. Major Japanese banks also had branches in the city, but in the wake of the great financial restructuring their presence has faded, and these days there is not a single Japanese bank in the city. On the other hand, the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, which stretches south from San Francisco, have taken on a completely new look as the "World Capital of Digital and Innovation," with the headquarters of four of the Magnificent Seven, including Apple, Google, Meta, and NVIDIA, as well as AI, Uber, Airbnb, and others. In the city of San Francisco, Salesforce Tower, completed in 2018 in the center of the city, is a new landmark.
渦丸の皆さん
ウォーリアーズ会場の様子
Sports Business and Culture
 I asked a person who bought Super Bowl tickets on resale about the price, and he told me it was $7,000 (¥1,000,000)! Although I think it is a bit much that some tickets cost $30,000 (¥4.5 million), I am impressed by the high level of "perfection" pursued by American sports as entertainment. The halftime of the Super Bowl was spectacular, with appearances by Beyoncé and others, and there was a steady stream of new TV ads. Many people watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials.
 Regarding professional basketball in San Francisco, the Consulate General held its first "Japanese Heritage Night" with the Golden State Warriors last year. The first event was held that February, and rock guitarist MIYAVI participated along with the Yosakoi dance group Uzumaru. At the second event on December 16th, thanks to the hard work of BaySpo Publisher Akira Onozato, as well as the support of Japanese American organizations, the Japan Commerce and Industry Association, the Japan Society, and others, I was allowed the honor of ringing the cable car bell to welcome the Warriors players to the court. I was a little embarrassed to see how large my image was projected on the panel hanging from the ceiling of the stadium, and afterwards, a number of people came up to tell me they had seen me on screen. The Japanese choir Chorale May sang the national anthem, and Uzumaru performed during halftime. Those lively performances suited the atmosphere of the venue very well.

 The stadium was filled with energy, with appearances by famous players of the past, cheer groups (there is a mixed youth group and a group with older members), balls and toy guns being thrown into the stands, and a large screen showing random couples and calling out "Hot Kiss! (Of the five or six couples, only one was too shy to kiss). You could feel that singular, lively American spirit. Overall, I enjoyed the event very much, and I thought it was a viable business model for the entertainment industry.
 Las Vegas, the site of this year's Super Bowl, has become the home of a succession of professional leagues in recent years, including ice hockey, basketball, and football. Last fall, the Oakland Athletics, a professional baseball team based in Oakland, which is across the bay from San Francisco, decided to relocate there. There will also be an F1 race throughout the entire city. I visited the city last fall and experienced firsthand its upswing, even though it is still recovering from the fallout of the pandemic. It is very unfortunate, though, that Oakland has been drained of its professional sports teams one after another.
 In Japan, former J-League chairman Kawabuchi launched the "J-League 100-Year Plan" 30 years ago, and through his continued efforts, Japanese soccer has come a long way by establishing a locally-focused system. In recent years, basketball also seems to have been well managed as a professional league. In the world of baseball, the Fighters seem to be trying a new model of management in Hokkaido. If it can be scaled up and developed as a business, I believe it will be a great step forward for the industry in Japan.
 After the Super Bowl, the basketball season is now in full swing. The Warriors still have Steph Curry, the legendary three-point shooter who helped them win the NBA championship two years ago, but the team has not been in great shape this season. After basketball, the baseball season will begin. It is a shame that the San Francisco Giants did not get Shohei Ohtani or Masanobu Yamamoto, but since they are in the same league, I look forward to seeing them play in San Francisco.
My Home
 It has been about five months since I arrived in San Francisco. If, last fall, I had been asked, "How have you found San Francisco?”, I would have said, "There’s so much going on, like APEC, that I’m still adjusting…".
 After ringing in the New Year, as I mentioned in a previous essay, I would have said, “After Christmas and New Year’s, I’m feeling more at home.”
 Now, after the Super Bowl experience, I would say, "This is our home.”

 The power of sports is amazing.