By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS, RAFU SPORTS EDITOR
For decades, a precious gift sat unnoticed, unknown, and essentially decaying, far beyond centerfield.
With the Dodgers’ signing of Shohei Ohtani last December, Kimi Ego saw an opportunity to restore the treasured expression of gratitude to a place of prominence.
“It’s my understanding the area is now covered with overgrown shrubs, trees and sadly the stone lantern is barely visible,” Ego wrote to The Rafu Shimpo.
Installed as the centerpiece of a Japanese-style garden on a hillside behind the parking lot was a Kasuga-style stone lantern presented to the team and then-owner Walter O’Malley in 1965. It was an offering of thanks from longtime Japanese sports columnist Sotaro Suzuki, who was invited with his wife, Toku, as guests to Dodger Stadium’s grand opening on April 9, 1962.
A member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, Suzuki helped to coordinate the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1956 Goodwill Tour to Japan. When the team’s brand new stadium opened in Los Angeles, O’Malley sent a VIP invitation to Suzuki.
Feeling a special gift was in order, Suzuki later reached out to the Shimizugumi Stone Works Company in Okazaki City near Nagoya to build the lantern. The eight-foot, 3,921-pound monolith featured an “eternal flame” lamp at its core and was shipped to Los Angeles in six sections in the winter of 1965.
Perhaps not knowing quite how to properly display the large gift, the team decided to create a garden on the mostly bare hillside that for years could clearly be seen from the upper decks of the stadium.
For many years, Ego’s father, Frank Ego, had been close to Suzuki and dutifully maintained the grounds around the lantern.
“He took care of the stone lantern for many years,” she said last month. “He kept it beautified and he came out every weekend, to do all the landscaping and so forth.”
While still living in Japan, Frank Ego was an avid fan of Japanese baseball and regularly read Suzuki’s column in The Yomiuri Shimbun.
“He decided one day to go to visit this gentleman because he’d been writing such a nice articles,” Kimi explained. “So my father traveled to Yokohama, and then that’s how they became good friends. After my father emigrated to Gardena in 1955, Sotaro Suzuki sent the Yomiuri paper to him every week for the next 10 years or so.”
Because of their friendship, Frank offered to maintain the garden after it was constructed. However, once he was no longer able to care for the garden in the 1990s, the inevitable years of growth began to take over and obscure the garden, which also had featured an ornamental bridge among its decorations.
For much of the last 20 years, the entire project had been all but forgotten, although Kimi sometimes has spoken with tour groups at the stadium, explaining the history of the lantern.
Even before Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto were added to the team, Kimi and her sister, Kumi Tanaka, were among those who saw the opportunity to revive the memories of the gift and restore the lantern to a place where it could be again appreciated.
“The Suzuki family lives in Japan and we still communicate with them since they want to know the latest news about the stone lantern,” Tanaka said.
The Dodgers clearly heard the voices and concerns of those who wished to see the lantern once again displayed prominently. On March 26, ahead of Opening Day, the team unveiled the Japanese stone lantern from 1965 in a new location, directly in front of the team store at the Top Deck. It sits in a perfect spot for fan photos, backed by a spectacular view of Downtown Los Angeles.
Photos courtesy Dodgers / O’Malley archives
“The Los Angeles Dodgers are extremely excited to display a remarkable monument from our past that showcases our long-term relationship with Japan and Japanese baseball,” said Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten, citing the team’s ties to Japan and Japanese players, including Hideo Nomo, Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Kenta Maeda, and others. The Dodgers have also been prominent in the organizing of international tours and global events such as the Olympic Games and the World Baseball Classic. “Now that we are making the lantern more visible and more accessible, our fans will have a wonderful opportunity to connect with this part of our history on a personal level.”
Ego said a plaque explaining the gift has been installed on the stairs near the lantern, but hopes it will be moved to a spot that is easier to see. Still, she believes at its new location, the lantern will once again be a symbol of bonding for baseball fans everywhere.
“I believe that once Sotaro Suzuki sent the stone lantern, it wasn’t just a special tie between Japan and the U.S. He envisioned that fans from all over the world will come and see the lantern and see its eternal lamp, and that it wasn’t just for the Japanese community. It was for everyone around the world,” she said.