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The story
On September 1 (September 2 Japan time), Number_i — made up of Hirano Sho, Jinguji Yuta, and Kishi Yuta — appeared for the ceremonial first pitch before the Dodgers-Cardinals game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Kishi Yuta was the one who threw, and his confident pitch became a hot topic. However, on a 5channel Geinou/Sports News+ thread, attention shifted away from the first pitch itself and toward claims that some fans nearby had asked for autographs — behavior criticized as “embarrassing” — sparking debate over the group’s name recognition on the ground and the apparent absence of any staff.
9/3/2026
At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Dodgers faced the Cardinals on September 1 (September 2 Japan time). Appearing for the ceremonial first pitch was the music group Number_i, consisting of Hirano Sho, Jinguji Yuta, and Kishi Yuta. They pulled off an impressive pitch — but behind the scenes, criticism has been pouring in over the behavior of some fans.
Number_i handled their big role admirably
Source: jprime.jp / Original article here
What people said
Riku/Ryu are at least gold medalists, so fine, but these guys are just washed-up ex-Johnny's idols nobody in the world's ever heard of — Americans don't know them one bit and couldn't care less.
Most people watching MLB broadcasts are Japanese, you know?
Korean stars have done the first pitch too, both last year and this year, so maybe look into who else has done it before judging.
If anything, it's the three guys who'll end up unknown even after trying to break into America, or the people posting photos of the embarrassing middle-aged women demanding autographs, who are the real attention-seekers.
Good for them, getting all that screaming and cheering
That probably saved face for them.
Are there even any non-Japanese fans?
Even as a Japanese fan, I'm getting sick of the Dodgers lately.
It probably just registers as 'must be popular somewhere in Asia' and that's the end of it.
Do you go blank every single time some foreign celebrity you've never heard of shows up for an event in Japan?
That IS the blank stare.
If you went to watch your favorite sport and some foreign celebrity you'd never heard of showed up trailing a fan crowd, of course you'd go blank.
Sasaki Roki: "Who even is this guy…"
I don't know about Japanese artists, but honestly K-pop is the one that's huge in the West, Latin America, etc.
Tons of different video angles got posted, but the one filmed from behind the catcher was definitely the clearest (for showing it really was a good pitch).
you should've just seated them somewhere regular fans couldn't reach, lol
And if someone does ask for a signature, just throw in a bit of fan service —
they were brought in as the drawcard for the first pitch anyway.
That's the thing, there didn't seem to be any staff around at all
I figured it'd normally be like the 'Ohtani + personal interpreter' setup
but even during the photos and the pitch itself, nobody like that was visible.
That one's really good, right?
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Number_i is a group formed in 2024 by Hirano Sho, Jinguji Yuta, and Kishi Yuta after the three left the former Johnny’s (now STARTO ENTERTAINMENT) agency in 2023, and this ceremonial first pitch for the Dodgers marked an unusual booking for them. On the thread, opinion split between those figuring “the local crowd must have had no idea who they were” and those arguing “a lot of MLB broadcast viewers are Japanese, so this makes sense as a Japan-facing promotion.” Some also pointed out that Korean artists have thrown first pitches before, meaning Number_i wasn’t a one-off choice in that respect — background not covered in the original article but worth keeping in mind. As for the autograph-request controversy, there were accounts that no staff or interpreter-like companions were visible with the group, raising a separate question about whether this came down to a planning failure on the organizers’ part.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Hirano Sho and Number_i throw first pitch at Dodger Stadium] Kishi Yuta’s pitch is a big hit, but some fans’ ‘autograph requests’ spark backlash as ’embarrassing’ [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★]“.
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