How stupid, how foolish, bachi! That’s what I was thinking as the U.S. Justice Department’s Central District of California announced the charges against Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s disgraced former translator on Thursday.
When the charges against Ippei were first announced I kept thinking of the word bachi, that Japanese concept that if you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. If he had a Hawaiian auntie like me, you would hear a stern “Bachi ga ataru!” Bachi is something that warns us to do the right thing or bad fortune will get you.
Earlier reports indicated that Mizuhara had stolen $4.5 million from the Dodgers superstar, but the actual amount is a staggering $16 million. His appearance on Friday at the Roybal Courthouse in Downtown L.A. should silence those who doubted Ohtani’s innocence.
Clearly for a guy so fluent in the Japanese language, Mizuhara is woefully ignorant of concepts like bachi or shinyo (trust). He had it made as Ohtani’s interpreter, and had achieved fame in his own right for being able to speak English and Japanese with fluency and his knowledge of baseball. Many of us who have some understanding of Japanese would think that he often didn’t exactly translate Ohtani but rather gave vague interpretations in the usual cadence of sports lingo.
An example was when Josie Huang of LAist asked Ohtani at his debut press conference about his impact on the local Nikkei community, Mizuhara didn’t accurately translate, so we didn’t get to hear Ohtani’s answer. Ohtani has been in Orange County for years now, so it’s not like he is new to Southern California, but it would have been interesting to hear whether he cared about being so close to a historic Japanese neighborhood like Little Tokyo.
The way Ippei set up an account and impersonated Ohtani to authorize transfers, according to the affidavit, is disturbing. The affidavit also details how he was drawn further and further into a hole of debt to the bookie. Prosecutors outlined a crime but also the behavior of an addict and pro sports should take note as it so willingly partners with FanDuel and DraftKings and builds new stadiums in Las Vegas.
Ippei’s smallest wager was ten bucks and they grew steadily to where it was averaging $12,800, with a total loss of $182.9 million with around 19,000 bets. He bet and wasted Ohtani’s money in the most American ways possible, that any bro on Reddit would understand: crypto, sports bets and baseball cards. That is addictive behavior and I would imagine part of the plea deal is his cooperation in the case against his bookie and getting treatment for his addiction. It was chilling to read the text exchange that the bookmaker threatened to reveal himself to Ohtani as he was walking his dog in Newport Beach.
Ippei’s downfall reminds me of Terrance Watanabe, the former president of Oriental Trading Company, who lost millions at Caesar’s Palace and other Vegas casinos. He took his father Harry’s Omaha wholesale novelty company and built it into a huge enterprise. Watanabe ended up losing nearly everything and accused Caesar’s Palace and Rio of providing him with alcohol and pills so he wouldn’t leave the gambling floor.
Ohtani, according to federal prosecutors, is exactly what he has maintained: a victim or as the affidavit states, Victim A. That he was betrayed by someone so close to him and yet somehow has been able to perform brilliantly on the field is remarkable. No doubt we are witnessing something historic in Shohei Ohtani; even these darker episodes will be part of his legend.
Translation, specifically Japanese-English translation, has never been more of a point of conversation in American culture than it is right now. Despite all his talent, Ohtani’s reliance left him vulnerable to exploitation I would imagine his team is swiftly rectifying (as long as they are trustworthy).
Will Ireton has stepped up as Ohtani’s translator and now every word he utters is up to interpretation. The other day, his translation after Ohtani’s first home run was cause for controversy. Ireton’s translation left the impression that Shohei himself had met with Ambar Roman, the fan who caught his first home-run ball, but that wasn’t the case,
Ireton started working for the Dodgers as Kenta Maeda’s translator and is part of a continuum of Nikkei staff for the team that includes Nobe Kawano, Scott Akasaki, Stephen Nelson, and of course Dave Roberts.
He has a tough job in the harshest spotlight and hopefully, as the season goes on he’ll ease into the role.
I think the best part of the excellent adaption of “Shogun” is the nuances of translation and how it is used to reveal and hide truths. Mariko (Anna Sawai) is the translator for Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) but her ultimate loyalty is to Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada). She doesn’t just translate; she smooths out the brutish emotions of Blackthorne, and explains the cultural differences, in ways that Toranaga will accept.
As a viewer, there are also many layers to the translations that move from courtly Japanese to the gruff words used by peasants.
Blackthorne for most of the series is depicted as clueless, and I found myself identifying with his blank stares as all the political intrigue goes on around him. It reminded me of being a gaijin in Japan and only being able to understand every other word, and certainly not the subtleties.
Few of us working at Rafu today were there in 1995 for the O.J. Simpson trial. I was in Little Tokyo then, working at Pacific Citizen, and I recall the helicopters buzzing over the courthouse when the verdict was announced.
Judge Lance Ito became a national figure as he presided over the case, probably the most prominent Japanese American at the time. Even his appearance became fodder for late-night talk shows — Jay Leno parodied him with the “Dancing Itos.”
For Judge Ito, the death of Simpson from cancer is returning him to the media spotlight as it has all those characters from so many years ago. He didn’t pursue fame and continued to preside over cases until his retirement in 2015. Last year he endorsed former O.J. prosecutor Christopher Darden in his campaign for a seat on the L.A. Superior Court.
Poignantly, The L.A. Times’ Steve Lopez last year chronicled Judge Ito’s life staying busy after the passing of his wife, Peggy York, in 2021. Lopez followed Ito as he tenderly took care of his wife’s headstone at Forest Lawn, applying oil to the tablet and tending to the grass.
The sense of profound love and loss is there, a more constant presence than any tabloid story about a case from decades ago.
Gwen Muranaka, senior editor of The Rafu Shimpo, can be contacted at gwen@rafu.com. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.