In November of 2010, when Japanese baseball player Masahiro Tanaka announced whom he was dating, he was decidely low-key about it.
"Good morning. It is cloudy in Sendai and a little chilly. You might know the news. I have been going out with Mai Satoda, the talent," he wrote on his blog.
But the public and the media were far more excited about the news. The star pitcher for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles was dating Satoda, a beloved pop-star turned TV personality — imagine the Japanese equivalent of Justin Verlander dating Kate Upton.
Shortly after the two went public with their relationship, the Japanese magazine Oricon Style wrote about how Satoda's "aura" had improved since dating Tanaka. Ultimately, though, it's been the athlete who has seen major improvement in his life.
After the couple married in 2012, Tanaka's winning percentage jumped up over the 90 percent mark. In 2013, he went 24-0 and the Golden Eagles claimed their first professional title.
Many pointed to Satoda as the source of his success, and she's considered by many Japanese to be an "ageman" — a woman who brings great fortune.
The winning streak continued with Tanaka, 25, signing a 7-year, $155 million contract with the Yankees in early 2014 (the couple moved to NY at the beginning of the year).
He proved worth the money. In his first eight major-league starts, he was 6-0 with a 2.17 ERA. He was well on his way to a Cy Young award when his season was derailed by an elbow injury in early July.
Satoda was commonly seen at Yankee games cheering her husband on before his injury.Photo: Anthony J. Causi
Mai Satoda, center, is already a huge pop star in Japan.
Throughout the aughts, the 30-year-old was a famous singer with the J-pop group Country Musume in Japan. In 2006, she began appearing as a "baka talento" — literally, a "foolish talent" — on a popular TV quiz show.
As her music career faded, her dumb-girl act won her many fans and turned her into one of the show's most popular regulars in her five years on it.
After Tanaka signed with the Yankees, the Japanese press reported that Satoda would be performing on Broadway, but that turned out to be just a rumor. When Satoda and Tanaka got engaged, she said being a good wife was more important than her career, and she's stayed true to that.
At spring training, reporters asked Tanaka if he was having trouble adapting to a Western diet, he said it wasn't an issue. "I have no stress at all as far as food goes," he told them. "My wife is a good cook."
Before her husband's injury, Satoda was regularly spotted cheering at Yankee stadium.
But, for the most part, the couple, who live in the Trump World Tower with their poodle, Haru, have remained private. Satoda has, however, offered some glimpses into their city life for fans back home.
On her Japanese blog, she writes about running in Central Park and posts pictures of food she's tried at local restaurants, from Peter Luger to Culture Coffee. The couple recently cheered on their fellow countryman Kei Nishikori at the US Open.
Satoda started studying English after Tanaka signed with the Yankees, and the language difference has made for some challenges.
"Buying a subway MetroCard was a hard fought battle. But I cleared it!" she wrote on her blog in May. Another post documented her accidentally buying a tube of denture adhesive she mistook for toothpaste.
Meanwhile, after months on the injured list, Tanaka is on the mend. He's been throwing well in simulated games and could be back on the mound later this month.
Satoda has said nothing on her blog of late about her husband's career prospects — or her own — but it seems that despite Tanaka's injury, her months in New York have flown by.
"Fall has already arrived," she recently exclaimed in a post. "That was fast."
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