When the bulletin came in on NHK midway during the daily "Asaichi"（あさイチ）broadcast stating that Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima（長嶋茂雄）had passed away today at the age of 89, I knew that there would be a "Stop the presses!" moment in the country. And sure enough, the TV network dedicated a full third of its main news hour to the life and career of the man known as "Mr. Professional Baseball" and "Mr. Giants".
I've never been a huge baseball fan, but even I knew about the famous Nagashima. He had been to the Japanese as Shohei Ohtani（大谷翔平）currently is to the sports world all over Earth right now. Even in the half century following his retirement from active baseball play in 1974, he was never forgotten as a manager for his beloved Tokyo Giants where he wore Uniform No. 3, or as a TV commentator who came up with some rather odd expressions such as "Make drama!" which ended up becoming one of the buzzwords and catchphrases in Japan one year.
Nagashima had his brushes with other aspects of pop culture and that included music. Years ago on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I noted his warbling participation in the multi-band collaboration "Hateshinai Yume wo"（果てしない夢を）back in 1993. But apparently, there had also been plenty of songs created about him and his legend.
I had never heard of this one before, but it doesn't really surprise me that Japanese entertainment legend Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）met Nagashima. Basically, the Tough Guy encountered Mr. Giants! In 1959, Ishihara released a single titled "Otoko no Yuujou Sebangou San" (A Man's Friendship: No. 3), and it's a wholehearted tribute to the player with the full brass-and-string march arrangement that would usually accompany a kayo kyoku regarding baseball. The song was written by Hisao Ohtaka（大高ひさを）and composed by Kenroku Uehara（上原賢六）.
My condolences go to Nagashima's family, friends and fans.
A real man's song for a real man's friendship!
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