Major league superstar Shohei Ohtani, who led the Japanese baseball team to the WBC championship, earns an annual salary of 8.5 billion yen (approximately 80.6 billion won), but the story was told that his family is still living a frugal life.
On the 22nd, Japan’s Money Post reported on the current situation of the Ohtani family under the title of ‘Money education that fostered Shohei Ohtani’s self-reliance’. The media explained that Ohtani’s wonderful personality was raised by his mother, Kayoko, and his family.
According to the media, the money Ohtani earns this year far exceeds 8.5 billion yen as a major top class. In addition, he has signed sponsorship contracts with 17 large companies, and the contract signed with New Balance, which started sponsoring supplies from this year, is worth 4 billion yen (approximately 38 billion won).
Despite this, the Ohtani family is still living a frugal life. Ohtani’s hometown is Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, a small rural town in the north. My parents still live here.
An acquaintance of the Ohtani family said, “When Ohtani was playing in Japan, he suggested to his parents to rebuild his home. As Ohtani, I wanted to be filial,” he said. “But my parents said, ‘I’m still healthy and the house isn’t old. I don’t spend money on that kind of place. Collect them well,” he said, refusing. His parents extensively remodeled the main house last year, but even this time, they said, they rejected all of his son’s proposals to “pay for the remodeling”.
Currently, Otani’s income is managed by her mother. Particularly, while her mother manages her son’s large sums of money, she continues to work part-time.
The Los Angeles Angels recently released a photo of Ohtani and her mother, Kayoko, in celebration of Mother’s Day. (Twitter capture)One official said, “When Ohtani asked her mother, ‘How long are you going to work?’, her mother said, ‘I can’t ask you to carry me?’ The father, Tooru, also said, “You can’t ask your son to feed you because he’s successful, can’t you?” An official said, “The son is earning money as his son does, and they are earning money on their own, so that is enough. Ohtani’s parents are not opening their hands to him,” he added.
The same goes for Ohtani’s older brother and older sister. His older brother, Ryuta, who is seven years older than Ohtani, played as a professional baseball player and is now a retired Toyota Motor Corporation coach. His older brother bought an apartment with a loan of 30 million yen (approximately 280 million won) when he got married two years ago, and he says he did not rely on Ohtani.
His older sister, who is two years older than his older brother, also married an official from his alma mater’s baseball club with the introduction of Ohtani three years ago. At the time, Ohtani asked, “I want to give you a bigger wedding gift,” but her sister said that she rejected it.
The media claims that Ohtani is also frugal due to this influence. The media said, “Ohtani is wearing only a few clothes he received from ‘Hugo Boss’, with which he partnered in 2020. Sportswear and shoes are all ‘New Balance’ products,” he said.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.