The Hanshin Tigers unveiled their new slogan for the upcoming season. In Japanese it is イチにカケル (ichi ni kakeru). In English, this can be roughly translated as “Betting on One” or “Putting One on the Line”. Hard to translate because it kind of has a multiplicity of meanings. Anyhow, about the design, the team says they want to have a high awareness of 1, and to put it all on the line for 1. The number one in the slogan design also looks like the katakana ノ (no) which then would change the reading of the whole slogan to イノチにカケル or “Putting One’s Life on the Line”. Furthermore, the use of katakana for the last word allows for the exclamation mark to work in tandem with the ル (ru) to give the appearance of the kanji 心 (kokoro) which means “heart”. So the whole thing is punny.
Says manager Akihiro Yano about the slogan: “The ‘one’ refers to one pitch, one ball, one moment that we need to focus on. We want to play the game as one team, get one more win, and head towards number one (the pennant) as well. We also need the power of one extra team member, the fans, and together, we are one huge powerful force. Let’s use this slogan to propel us, players and fans, to number one!”
I like it. So far, Mr. Yano has been pretty good with slogan creation. All he has left to do is to succeed on the field! Let’s make 2022 (the Year of the Tiger) the year of the Tigers!