Shohei Ohtani beats moms, dads to top incredible nation-wide survey among Japanese students

Shohei Ohtani has done nothing but impress nearly everyone over the last couple of years. He has done things no baseball player ever has and brought in a new international audience to the MLB.

He comes into the 2025 season ranked as the best player, according to the MLB Network. This was a pretty easy choice, given Ohtani is coming off a season where he won his third MVP Award.

Ohtani has also come out on top of another list. However, this list does not just include baseball players, but whoever Japanese students admire the most in their lives.

"[Survey results] Shohei Ohtani tops the list of people elementary, junior high and high school students look up to, surpassing both mothers and fathers."

"The second place was 'Dad' and the third place was 'Mom.' Dai-Ichi Life Insurance, which conducted the survey, analyzed that 'children are watching closely how their parents work and do housework."

Ohtani received 163 of the votes, fathers received 124, and mothers received 102 to round out the top three. In fourth place was HIKAKIN, a popular Japanese YouTuber who boasts 2.5 million subscribers on his channel.

There is no denying just how important of a role model Ohtani has become. From Japanese to American kids, nearly everyone looks up to the slugger, and it is not just for what he does on the field. Ohtani is a great role model off the field as well.

Dodgers teammate sheds light on how big Shohei Ohtani is in Japan

Los Angeles Dodgers - Shohei Ohtani (Photo via IMAGN)

Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers get to open their season up in Tokyo. It is going to be a celebration of Japanese baseball with the hometown stars returning.

Many are expecting a huge crowd for this two-game series against the Chicago Cubs to kick things off. Fans will have a chance to see Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shoto Imanaga, and a few others.

Tyler Glasnow believes the atmosphere is going to be insane. He compares Ohtani to the likes of Canadian superstar Justin Bieber.

"Ohtani's like Justin Bieber times 10 over there, so it's probably going to be insane," said Glasnow.

Fans will not want to miss out on this exciting Tokyo Series on March 18 and 19. FOX will cover the first game of the series, while FS1 will carry the finale. FOX Deportes will have coverage of both games.