ESPN Online Does Ichiro

[Tom Mes]

>I can even get suspicious that having Japanese players in MLB is a huge 
>plus in what it can bring

No need for suspicion, you're quite right. I don't follow baseball, but in 
the world of soccer the financial and merchandising benefits of attracting 
Japanese and South Korean players are quite openly discussed.  I'm sure 
Feyenoord Rotterdam made a lot more money off Ono Shinji's marketing 
potential and off the sales of broadcast rights to Japan than from his 
goals. He has been injured for ages, but nobody has even uttered the 
possibility of selling him on to another club.

Tom