Not Talking Japanese

[Max Power]

The Yomiuri Giants in Japan have the word "Giants" across their uniform. Why? Shouldn't it be written in Japanese and not English?

[Craig S.]

I don't think they're the only Japanese team to do this. Maybe they do it in English to confirm the fact that they ripped off the old NY Giants uniforms?

[Duque]

They have a lot of American players and coaches on their teams, right? And, after all, they are imitating an American invention.

[satchel]

It's true that they are not the only Japanese team whose uniform names are written in Western characters rather than Kanji or another Japanese script (I don't know if any of the uniforms are written in a Japanese script).

But I believe the team's name is "Giants," rather than the corresponding word in Japanese, or even a Japanese pronunciation of the word, which would be something like "jianatasu." They're called "Giants" and that's what's written on their uniforms.

At any rate, western writing on clothing is immensely popular in East Asia, and they'll sell a lot of merchandise by styling it that way.

[gyb13]

even the japanese-language version of the J-league webpage has the teams in western script:
http://www.npb-bis.com/jp/index.html