Japan

American Protestant missionaries engaged in similar evangelical efforts in Japan in the 1850s.More receptive to modernization than the Chinese，Japan sent students to be educated in American colleges，where they learned to play baseball.Baseball became a favorite of the Japanese.In the early twentieth century，baseball became a form of surrogate warfare，as Japan and the United Sates contended for leadership in the Pacific.

Although some political tensions played outon the athletic fields，Japan took amore overt stance in expressing its Asian leadership.In 1895 it defeated the Chinese in the Sino-JapaneseWar and occupied the island of Taiwan，introducing the inhabitants to baseball.In 1904—1905，Japan proved victorious over Russia in awar to control the Korean peninsula，where thewinners also initiated baseball among the populace.

Japanesemuscle becamemore prominentwhen Tokyo hosted the Far East Olympics3 in 1917 and Osaka did so in 1923.Japanese baseball teams dominated the University of Chicago in its 1925 and 1930 visits to the islands.Japan further tested Social Darwinian precepts in the global Olympic Games thereafter，making impressive showings through-out the 1930s.In 1931，it invaded Manchuria on the Chinesemainland，further exerting its Asian influence.Japanese baseball teams established a professional league in 1936 and called for a true World Serieswith their American counterparts.