Japanese Version of Shohei Ohtani’s Picture Book Published

Jiji Press

14:47 JST, February 21, 2026

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The Japanese version of Major League Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani’s English-language picture book about his beloved dog, Decoy, was published Friday.

The book, whose original title is “Decoy Saves Opening Day,” describes how the dog, called Dekopin in Japanese, manages to survive opening day when he is supposed to throw the first pitch but leaves his “lucky ball” at home.

The translated version is titled “Dekopin no Tokubetsu na Ichinichi” (The special day for Dekopin) and was published by Poplar Publishing Co.

The Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player will donate all his earnings from the publication to charity. Poplar Publishing will donate part of its revenue from the Japanese version to charities working for animal welfare.

“Decoy and my first children’s book is out today! We can’t wait for you to read it,” Ohtani said in an Instagram post when the original book was released.