TOKYO, Japan – In Japan, the term hafu refers to a person of half-Japanese ancestry. It’s important to remember that hafu come in all shapes and sizes and are not any less Japanese, though their appearance may make them stand out. Notable hafu throughout Nippon Professional Baseball history include Sachio Kinugasa, the Japanese Iron Man, and Yu Darvish.
Over the years, the number of biracial players in Nippon Professional Baseball has been on the rise, a testament to the sport’s growing diversity and inclusivity. Let’s take a closer look at some of these notable hafu players.
Chusei Mannami: Half-Congolese
‘Mannami’ directly translates to “Ten Thousand Waves,” and that’s precisely the kind of impact he’s made on the diamond. Nicknamed “Manchu,” Mannami was born to a Japanese mother and a Congolese father in Tokyo. He’s been a highly-regarded athlete since middle school and was drafted by the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the fourth round of the 2018 NPB Draft. After a few seasons of showing off his power output in the minors, Mannami got a taste of the big leagues in 2021 and 2022, hitting 19 home runs in 149 total games. However, with a strikeout rate approaching 40%, Mannami failed to establish himself as a reliable everyday player.
But the 2023 season marked a turning point in Mannami’s career as he lowered his strikeout and whiff rates by 12% each, hitting 25 homers with a 143 wRC+ in 141 games. Mannami’s best tool, however, has been his cannon arm, becoming one of the faces of NPB with his electric laser beam throws from right field, netting him a whopping 13 outfield assists and 33 defensive runs saved since the start of 2023. He’s continued to improve in 2024, cutting his strikeout rate even further and being selected to the Japanese national team. He’s currently on pace for 5.5 WAR. Still only 24 years old, the sky is the limit for Mannami. Expect to see him at the World Baseball Classic in 2026.
Shun “Jessy” Mizutani: Half-Nigerian
Mannami is not the only biracial outfielder on the Fighters; the half-Nigerian Mizutani joined the team as a Rule 5 Draft pick this past offseason. He spent five years grinding it out on the SoftBank Hawks’ minors but never got a taste of the NPB level. In 2024, the Fighters finally gave him that opportunity as he made his NPB debut on April 11 against his former club.
He was later sent back down, but after dominating the farm competition with a .925 OPS, he got another shot on the top team and hasn’t looked back. The 23-year-old has been on a tear in his rookie campaign, slashing .341/.373/.516 in 36 games with a 179 wRC+. He was named interleague MVP in June after recording the highest batting average in interleague play history at .438, which included a 15-game hit streak. He’s also in the top five in NPB in hard-hit percentage for batters with at least 100 plate appearances.
Makoto Aduwa: Half-Nigerian
Aduwa was born to a Nigerian father and a Japanese mother, who was a volleyball player. As a 19-year-old rookie in the 2018 season, he made 53 appearances out of the bullpen and had a 3.74 ERA. He got a chance to join the rotation the following year and finished with a 4.32 ERA in 91.2 innings as a pitch-to-contact specialist. He suffered an elbow injury in 2020, undergoing surgery at the end of the season. He looked to make a speedy recovery but had a major setback in 2021, with yet another elbow injury during spring training, missing the entire season.
In 2023, he finally made it back to the NPB level as a reliever, making 14 appearances out of the bullpen to the tune of a 3.24 ERA. Now 25 years old, Aduwa was impressive enough in the spring to crack the opening-day rotation and has posted a 2.82 ERA and 3.75 FIP in 2024. He’s displaying more swing-and-miss ability than before his injury and is finally making his mark on the league again.
Yuma Mune: Half-Guinean
When Mune was in the eighth grade, he visited Ghana and received a bracelet from the locals, which became his lucky charm throughout high school. Even after joining the Orix Buffaloes in the 2014 NPB Draft, Mune brought the charm with him, eventually making his big league debut in 2016. Unable to establish himself as an everyday player, he spent the 2019 offseason playing Winter Ball with the Melbourne Aces in Australia, hitting .387 with a .995 OPS.
In 2021, he finally had his breakthrough with a 115 wRC+ in 139 games and 3.9 WAR, taking home the Golden Glove Award at third base and helping lead the team to their first Pacific League pennant since the Ichiro-led Blue Wave in 1996. He became a Japan Series champion in 2022 and is a fan favorite for his lively personality and highlight-reel defensive plays.
Yasuaki Yamasaki: Half-Filipino
Yamasaki was a prized first-round pick at the 2014 NPB Draft and made a meteoric impact on the league immediately, winning the Central League Rookie of the Year Award in 2015 with a 1.92 ERA and 37 saves. He became the fastest Japanese pitcher to reach the 100-save milestone in NPB history and took home the saves title in 2018 and 2019. He took a step back in 2020, missing the all-star team for the first time in his career, and lost the closer job until rebounding in 2022 with another 37-save campaign.
Behind the scenes, however, Yamasaki was dealing with tragedy as his biggest supporter in life, his mother, passed away in 2021 at the age of 51. Originally from the Philippines, his mother loved watching her son pitch for the DeNA Baystars. Yamasaki had considered going to MLB during his prime but decided to stay in Japan to stay with his mother. Though he’s no longer in the closer role for the time being, Yamasaki has already had a phenomenal career with 230 saves and 504 strikeouts in 506.1 innings to the tune of a 2.77 ERA.
Yuki Udagawa: Half-Filipino
Udagawa burst onto the scene in the summer of 2022, forming a three-headed dragon in the back of the Orix Buffaloes’ bullpen alongside Soichiro Yamazaki and Jacob Waguespack, helping secure their first Japan Series title in 26 years. With a microscopic 0.81 ERA and wicked 36.8 K%, he earned a selection to Samurai Japan for the 2023 WBC despite having just 22.1 innings of NPB experience.
Early in WBC camp, Udagawa had trouble fitting in, thinking he didn’t belong with all the established superstars around him, but fellow hafu Yu Darvish helped him feel welcome. He had a strong finish to the 2023 campaign with a 1.77 ERA in 45.2 innings, becoming the team’s biggest strikeout weapon throughout the playoffs. He’s had trouble finding the strike zone consistently in 2024, but the 25-year-old continues to display some of the gaudiest stuff in Japan, running his fastball in the mid to upper-90s with a nasty split-finger.
Photo Credit: Outfielder Chusei Mannami #66 of Japan slides into the home plate to score a run by a sacrifice fly of Infielder Teruaki Sato #8 in the 6th inning during the Asia Professional Baseball Championship Final between South Korea and Japan at Tokyo Dome on November 19, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images)
