Baseball

Shohei Ohtani Visits US Embassy in Japan and His Dog Gets Mock Visa

Screengrab from MLB Network
Shohei Ohtani remotely appears on an MLB Network program on November when he was announced as the winner of the American League MVP Award.

13:11 JST, January 12, 2024

Shohei Ohtani visited the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where Ambassador Rahm Emanuel presented the new Los Angeles Dodgers star with a supersized visa for his dog.

Emanuel posted photos of the visit on social media Thursday, with the embassy saying it occurred recently when Ohtani was back in Japan.

Emanuel and Ohtani posed with a mock visa for the player’s dog, Decoy. It shows a photo of the dog, whose Japanese name is Dekopin, and gives his birthdate as “dog years” and shows the canine has dual American and Japanese citizenry.

Thrilled to meet trailblazing two-time MLB MVP Ohtani-san again, Emanuel posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Maybe next time I’ll be fortunate enough to meet his MVPup, Decoy.”

Emanuel previously met Ohtani at the U.S. Embassy in March 2023, when the two-way player was with the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani signed a $700 million, 10-year deal to join the Dodgers in December.