Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and wife, Mamiko Tanaka, made their first public appearance as a newly married couple, ahead of the Seoul Series with the San Diego Padres.
The two-game set kicks off at the Gocheok Sky Dome, as the first leg of the MLB World Tour in 2024. The international series already was drawing widespread interest because of Ohtani as a player, but that increased in the wake of sharing such a significant personal development.
Ohtani revealed his marriage in late February, breaking the news that he and Tanaka had tied the knot.
“Not only have I began a new chapter in my career with the Dodgers but I also have began a new life with someone from my Native country of Japan who is very special to me and I wanted everyone to know I am now married,” Ohtani wrote in his Instagram caption alongside his announcement post.
Before boarding the Dodgers’ flight to South Korea, Ohtani and Tanaka were photographed alongside interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and his interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda.
Ohtani captioned it with “Can’t wait!” and the post quickly began to spread across social media and global news outlets.
Ohtani kept his relationship out of the spotlight, as he recently discussed the two had met at least three years ago. Tanaka accompanied him to Spring Training this year and now is with Ohtani in South Korea.
Ohtani became engaged to Tanaka in 2023.
Who is Mamiko Tanaka?
Tanaka has a level of fame in her own right, starting her basketball career at Waseeda University in 2018. Then becoming a member of the Fujitsu Red Wave of the Women’s Japan Basketball League, she played from 2019 to 2023, ultimately retiring this past year.
In her most recent season for the Red Wave, Tanaka shot 47.7% from the field and 69.9% from the free throw line in 28 games last year.
Tanaka posted a season-high of 24 points against the Himeji Egrets.
In 2019, she had a prolific performance in the FIBA three-on-three Women’s Series and Nations League.
Ohtani called her as a “normal Japanese woman” following his marriage announcement, referring to not being a major celebrity.
The topic of Ohtani’s wife was broached during the Dodgers’ introductory press conference at Gocheok Sky Dome, during which he was accompanied by teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
“We all want to hear this,” said Freeman as he put an earpiece on to hear a live translation. “Come on, Sho! Spill it.”
“I answered a lot of the marriage questions in an interview earlier, so I don’t want to really get into details here,” Ohtani said through Mizuhara. “But it is her first time coming with me to a game like this, so I think it’s going to be really great memories for both of us. Like I said earlier, I have one job to focus on. That’s baseball.”
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