Hideo Nomo Hideo Nomo Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄/Nomo Hideo, born August 31, 1968 in Minato-ku, Osaka, Japan) is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from to . He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his contract, and became the first Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to Major League Baseball in the United States, debuting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in . Although he was not the first Japanese person to play baseball professionally in the
Hideo Ohba Hideo Ohba was a Japanese aikido and judo teacher and the Second Director of Japan Aikido Association after the death of Kenji Tomiki. He was born as Hideo Tozawa in a village called Nakagawa in Akita prefecture. In 1936, he adopted his wife's name upon marriage in deference to her fame as a young teacher of the Japanese harp. The year 1931 was pivotal for Hideo Ohba. He was awarded 2nd dan in judo, met Kenji Tomiki and was called up to serve in the military which he did with distinction. His professional and personal relationship with Kenji Tomiki became