Photo/Illutration Hanamaki Higashi High School’s baseball team, which Major League Baseball two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani once played for, abolished its shaved head rule in 2018.

High school baseball players in Japan sporting shaved heads are no longer the norm in a clean break from past tradition, according to a new study.

In fact, nearly three-quarters of high school baseball teams no longer mandate the clean-shaven cut as an increasing number of schools break from the strict rules and discipline that were once a part of school athletic culture.

Although 26.4 percent of high school baseball teams still instruct their members to shave their heads in 2023, the figure dropped sharply from the 76.8 percent in 2018.

Compared with 2018, teams that allow students to have a crew cut increased from 8.9 to 14 percent while those with no haircut rules jumped to 59.3 percent, up from 14.2 percent, according to the survey conducted by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and The Asahi Shimbun.

More than 3,700 high schools across the country responded to the survey taken in April and May.

“Teachers and coaches should leave students alone with their hair styles,” said Taku Kamiya, a professor of sports education at Kansai University. “I’m surprised to find haircut rules remaining in 40 percent of schools.”

Even so, Kamiya approved of efforts being made at schools to change with the times and to better support new generations of high school ballplayers.

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The Asahi Shimbun

Changes are also taking place in other parts of the high school baseball community.

Training hours are growing shorter, with 68.1 percent of the teams reporting that students practice less than three hours a day on weekdays, up from 50.4 percent in 2018.

Correspondingly, teams training three hours or more on weekdays dropped from 49.5 percent to 31.8 percent.

The trend also applies to weekend activities.

More than half, or 52.5 percent, of the teams practice less than five hours a day on weekends, compared with 27.2 percent in 2018.

Those training five hours or more on weekends decreased from 72.6 percent to 47.3 percent. Only 14.2 percent, down from 27.4 percent, spend seven hours or more on weekend practice sessions.

Regarding 500 pitches per week limits, 61 percent of coaches support them and another 8.9 percent said the limits should be stricter.

The new rule was introduced in 2020 to protect young players from injuries.

Kaoru Takara, the head of the federation, welcomed the shorter training hours and positive responses to the pitch limits, saying they would help ensure the health and safety of students.

The survey also found that fewer coaches are imposing food restrictions on students.

Only 10.2 percent of the teams ban sodas, compared with 35.2 percent in 2008. The figure was 5.8 percent, down from 12.9 percent, for consuming instant noodles. Most teams, or 86.5 percent, said they have no food restrictions at all.

The study also highlighted the declining popularity of baseball, once the most beloved sport in the country.

Asked if other sports such as soccer and basketball will be more popular than baseball in the future, 34.2 percent said they already are.

That awareness has been shared with more baseball coaches in recent years with the figure marking 6 percent in 2008, 12.3 percent in 2013 and 30.2 percent in 2018.

In 2008, more than half of respondents said baseball would remain the country’s most popular sport. That percentage slumped to 11.3 percent in the latest survey.

(This article was written by Yuki Saito and Ken Murota.)

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