In Japanese sports culture, standout athletes often define an entire generation. Baseball fans know the “Matsuzaka Generation.” By birth year, Shohei Ohtani (born in 1994) could easily headline his own.

But during his time with the Fighters, Ohtani would sometimes say with a smile, “I’m from the Hanyu generation.”

He was referring to figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, also born in 1994, who won Olympic gold at just 19 years old in Sochi. Around the same age group were swimmer Kosuke Hagino, swimmer Daiya Seto, rugby player Kazuki Himeno, basketball player Yuta Watanabe, speed skater Miho Takagi, and many others competing — and winning — on the world stage.

There was even a loosely formed “94 group,” where some of these athletes would occasionally gather.

For Ohtani, seeing peers dominate globally was not intimidating.

It was energizing.

He had declared his desire to challenge MLB right after high school. The world had always been part of his horizon. Watching athletes his own age become world champions reinforced that vision.

When others in your generation reach the top, it removes excuses.

It makes the global stage feel real.

Ohtani did not compare himself in resentment.

He observed, absorbed, and translated that inspiration into ambition.

Motivation, for him, was not abstract.

It had a face — often the same age as his own.

Source

This quote comes from a Japanese magazine published in Japan and is not currently available in English.

Number 881, p.19