In discussing ‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’, director Jason Sterman reflected on exploring Japan’s deep-rooted connection to baseball and the emotional weight behind the 2025 MLB Opening Day games in Tokyo.
“We see these guys when they’re at their best, at their peak of their career, in a way, when they’re playing in Major League Baseball,” Sterman says. “But where do they come from? Obviously, they come from Japan. But, where do they come from on their journey to be able to get to this point?”
In conversation, Sterman tells Awards Focus how his longstanding relationship with Major League Baseball and the unique cultural weight of the Tokyo Series created the perfect opportunity to explore the deeper roots of Japan’s baseball tradition. He spoke about filming across Japan for 30 days, discovering unexpected personal stories—particularly within youth baseball communities—and navigating language barriers that ultimately underscored the sport’s universal power. Sterman also reflected on shaping the documentary around character-driven storytelling rather than game results, his hope that the film bridges audiences between baseball fandom and Japanese culture, and why the theatrical experience remains central to how the film is meant to be seen.
‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’ examines Japan’s longstanding passion for baseball, building toward the 2025 MLB Opening Day matchups in Tokyo as Japanese standouts Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Shota Imanaga, and Seiya Suzuki return to play on home soil. By following individuals whose lives have been shaped by the sport, the documentary highlights baseball’s role in linking generations, uniting cultures, and navigating the space between heritage and contemporary life. Rather than simply recounting a high-profile series, the film offers a broader reflection on a country’s devotion to the game and the emotional resonance of seeing its heroes return.
‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’ will screen in theaters on February 23-24 through Fathom Entertainment.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Jason Sterman: Likewise, it’s great to meet you. Great to meet you as well. How are you doing?
AF: I’m doing well. Joys of technology today, but I’m doing well.
Jason Sterman: We’ll make it through.
AF: How did you first become attached to direct ‘Homecoming: The Tokyo Series’?
Jason Sterman: This was a concept that I conceived of, quite honestly, with a relationship I’ve had with Major League Baseball for quite some time. I’d done a ‘30 for 30’ with them years ago. It was kind of generally catching up with MLB Studios—what are some things that we should be developing? Was there anything that I was interested in?
It was on my radar that the Tokyo series was taking place as the opening day of last year’s baseball season in Tokyo between the Dodgers and the Cubs. I’m a Dodgers fan. I live in LA. I’ve been lucky enough to watch Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the players from the Dodgers side.
It just created this curiosity and question: we see these guys when they’re at their best, at their peak of their career, in a way, when they’re playing in Major League Baseball. But where do they come from? Obviously, they come from Japan. But, where do they come from on their journey to be able to get to this point?
That was the convergence of wanting to get an answer to that question and go on that journey while at the same time, Major League Baseball having the Tokyo series. That created the right time, right place to tell the story.
AF: Yeah. I take it you realized how significant that series was going to be almost immediately with your being a Dodgers fan.
Jason Sterman: Well, the interesting thing about it is that it’s the opening of the season. The stakes are different. The stakes are less about the who wins and loses the game because it’s the first two games of a very long season.
It was much more of the stakes that I think came from the idea of the five Japanese players—three on the Dodgers and two on the Chicago Cubs—coming home and the idea of being them being able to play in front of the fans that were their home fans when they played in Japan in the Nippon league, but now coming with Major League Baseball, wearing very different uniforms, very different elevated stature of play, and what that meant.
I think that created bigger stakes for them, but also, it was the very national pride moment. And so, that would be created the door and entry point for going and exploring what baseball in Japan means.
AF: What was the most challenging aspect of making the documentary?
Jason Sterman: The easiest answer is I do not speak Japanese, and the majority of people who we interact with do not necessarily always speak English. There was obviously the learning curve that comes with the patience required to get communication across.
But the interesting thing also is that there was this aspect of baseball actually becoming a little bit of this unifier and almost like the universal translator, if you will. We didn’t necessarily always know what each other was saying at every instance, but the language of baseball was the thing that actually became very unifying.
AF: How long was the rough assembly edit?
Jason Sterman: The rough assembly cut ran about just shy of 2 hours so we’re not too far off from where we ultimately landed to begin with.
But we also built the film structurally to a certain extent in reverse. When you see the film, obviously, you realize that this is not really about necessarily these games that are being played. That’s just the doorway in.
There was a thing of prioritizing the characters and the storylines that take place from the people that we meet along the way in Japan. And then separately, taking all the game footage, the things that we captured during the course of the games that were being played, and finding the ways of putting those into a structure that helps guide each along the way.
AF: Is there something that you tried to keep in the film but couldn’t find the right place or had to cut for time?
Jason Sterman: I think that the hard thing with a film like this is you fall in love with all of your characters. There’s a lot of time that I wish we could spend with each of the characters.
We spent 30 days filming this and that was around four days of actual baseball games. There’s a lot of time spent with each of the characters and the little profile or vignette pieces.
Everyone gets into the film, but I think that there is definitely material that I wish that—if we had the luxury of making it 3 hours long—we’d spend a lot more time with each of the characters.
AF: I’m curious as to what ways the documentary evolved from how it was envisioned to how things actually played out?
Jason Sterman: Everything that was envisioned from the start was basically, well, we know that these two games, especially with the Dodgers and the Cubs, and there’s four games played the two days before that, where each of the Dodgers and the Cubs played a Japanese team. On the schedule, there’s four days to really focus. We know that the games are going to take place.
Outside of that, everything was very much in a world of discovery along the way. We didn’t necessarily know which characters would have the—I don’t want to say rewarding because they’re all rewarding—but more either in-depth or surprising introductions of things along the way.
For example, we spent a decent amount of time in Osaka with a Little League organization and different characters within that organization. There’s a mother and a son who run it.
But the thing I didn’t necessarily know that we were going to get and find was this wonderful father and son, who just happened to also be a son who’s on the team and his father who is very devoted to his son playing baseball. Those were people we met when we were there. We didn’t know when we got on a plane to go fly to Japan.
We knew we’d go to Osaka and we’d see Little League, but we didn’t necessarily know that we’d have these other amazing characters that would come up and that was only through the process of basically being there and being open, I think, to meeting people along the way.
AF: What are the plans for the film after its Fathom screenings?
Jason Sterman: There will be opportunity for people who, if they miss it in the theater, there will be a streaming partner. We’re not announcing it yet because we’d love for people to be able to go see it in the theater. It’s designed to be seen in the theater.
But that’s also not necessarily the opportunity that everyone will have so there will be opportunity afterwards.
AF: What do you hope people take away from watching the film?
Jason Sterman: My goal with this film ultimately is to shine a light, I think, on Japanese baseball and Japanese culture.
But at the same time, also, I think if you’re not a fan of baseball—you could be already a fan of Japanese culture and traditions—this kind of brings you into the world of baseball, and maybe you become a fan.
If you’re a fan of baseball, but not necessarily as familiar with Japanese culture, even as it expands beyond just the world of baseball, I think that there’s two different ways that you can come into this, and I think two different ways you can exit it.
AF: Yeah. I know it’s way too early right now with Spring Training barely even underway and the World Baseball Classic has yet to start, but any World Series predictions?
Jason Sterman: Look, I’m born and raised in Los Angeles. I’m a Dodgers fan. I’m the last person who’s allowed to make any predictions. No one wants to hear from me or us.
AF: I’m the rare Cardinals fan living a half mile from Wrigley. It can be tough.
Jason Sterman: Yeah, for sure. I mean, just the spirit of that town can be overwhelming. Are you born and raised in Chicago?
AF: No, I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. I grew up a St. Louis fan because we had the Redbirds there for a long time until they left us for Memphis. Milwaukee came in for two seasons and when the Bats moved into the new stadium, they became the affiliate of the Reds. It’s been the Bats have been with Cincy ever since, but the allegiance stuck.
Jason Sterman: It’s normal. It’s what happens.
AF: Yeah. I ended up in Chicago because I saw Second City as a college freshman, and the improv bug bit.
Jason Sterman: I have a soft spot for the Cubs. I’m lucky enough I work on ‘The Bear’ and they’ve just always been so good to us whenever we’re out there.
The people of Chicago are truly amazing so as much as it pains me sometimes knowing that we’re in the same league, I still have a shop spot for them.
AF: Thank you so much, and have a good weekend.
Jason Sterman: Thank you. You as well.