Japan’s baseball bond at heart of ‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’ doc
Published by MLB.com on Feb 01, 2026 12:21 AM
Japan’s baseball bond at heart of ‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’ doc
MLB.com
Sonja Chen
12:21 AM MST
Most electric moments from the Tokyo Series
LOS ANGELES — The poignancy of five Japanese ballplayers returning to their home country as Major League stars resonated with the baseball world last March. One year later, a new documentary goes deeper into the people and places that shaped them.
“Homecoming: The Tokyo Series” premiered on Saturday night at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, exploring baseball’s global nature through its cultural idiosyncrasies in Japan. The documentary follows the season-opening 2025 Tokyo Series, which saw Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki’s Dodgers face off against Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki’s Cubs at Tokyo Dome.
Produced by Supper Club and in coordination with MLB Studios and BD4, “Homecoming: The Tokyo Series” will be released in theaters on Feb. 23 and 24, distributed by Fathom Entertainment.
“Ideally, you come to this film with a curiosity for baseball,” director Jason Sterman said in a Q&A following the premiere. “And you leave with a better curiosity for an understanding of where these players are from.”
The documentary explores how baseball can be more than a game, but rather a craft and a way of life in Japan. The sport may be referred to as America’s pastime, but Japan has made it its own with a deep knowledge of every aspect of the game. That comes across not only in how the players approach the game, but also the fans.
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At its core, the Tokyo Series was a celebration of Japanese baseball and the strides that Japanese players have made at the highest level of the game. Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Imanaga and Suzuki had once been inspired by previous generations of Japanese Major Leaguers — among them Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki — and in a full-circle moment, their return to Japan provided a source of inspiration for future generations.
But the series was also a celebration of the culture around baseball in Japan, as the documentary explores. From a grandmother who coaches a youth team alongside her son, to glove and bat manufacturers who care about creating equipment that endures, the film puts a spotlight on people who honor the game — and shows how the game can honor them right back.
Above all, the documentary shows that while Japan imparts its own influence on baseball, the game has a universal quality.