i was just surfing on yahoo japan and found an article about how much famous sports players get paid for TV commercial appearance in japan. it says beckham is ranked the highest with $2.1 millions (assuming that $1=120 yen). nakata comes on the 2nd with $1 million followed by Ichiro and Sasaki both $840,000, and ono $670,000
Yep, at least in Japan, Matsui will be much bigger than Ichiro. If you thought the press hounds that surround Ichiro were ridiculous, wait till "Godzilla-kun" gets there.
What about Kaz Ishii? There was a lot of hype about him. Then he was off to a fast start. He seem to have a flamboyance about him that I thought the press would eat up, especially the Japanese media. New York media loved Shinjo when he was a Met. I miss him.