Hideo Nomo to active status. This led to him heading to the U.S., where in February 1995, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him. Nomo made his U.S. pro baseball debut with the Bakersfield Blaze on April 27, 1995, against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Placed on a 90-pitch limit, and throwing mainly fastballs, Nomo pitched 5⅓ innings, taking the 2–1 loss against the Quakes. On May 2, after a month in the minors necessitated by a player's strike, he became the first Japanese-born Major Leaguer to appear in a major league game since Masanori Murakami in . He was also the first Japanese-born
Hideo Ochi gave his belt -which was almost white- to a boy blackbelt from Venezuela, when he asked Master Ochi for a picture for his birthday. Now, he is wearing a new black belt. Hideo Ochi Hideo Ochi (born February 29, 1940, in Saijō, Japan) is a Japanese master of karate. He is ranked 9th "Dan", and is a former Japan Karate Association (JKA) World Champion in "kumite" (sparring) and "kata" (patterns). He was also coach (European Championship in 1971, 1972 and 1975) of the German national team and Chief Instructor for JKA Europe. In 1997, he received the Order of Merit