Ahead of the opening game at the home of the Dodgers in Major League Baseball, a huge mural of Shohei Ohtani was completed in Los Angeles' historic Japanese Quarter, and a ceremony was held to unveil it.
More than 200 people attended the unveiling ceremony held on the 27th in Little Tokyo, a historic Japanese neighborhood in the heart of Los Angeles, including local residents, Dodgers officials, and the Japanese American community.
At the ceremony, Robert Vargas, the artist who completed the painting, greeted the participants by saying, ``This project is a way to bring people and different cultures together.''
Afterwards, as the countdown signaled, the curtain that covered the entire wall of the Japanese hotel was lowered, and a piece of work the size of a 10-story building was drawn, depicting the pitcher, the batter, Otani, and Mt. Fuji. has appeared.
A device that utilizes technology called AR (augmented reality) has also been adopted, so that when you open a special website on your smartphone and point your camera at the mural, the mural on the screen will start to move.
People who visited said things like, ``I think it's huge and vibrant and amazing,'' and ``Ohtani is Japan's Babe Ruth.I think the mural is appropriate for Los Angeles' Japanese community.''
"My family has lived in this town for 80 years and we've never seen anything like this," said David Ikegami, president of a local business association. "The Japanese American community is looking forward to the opening in our hometown." I was there.