Shohei Ohtani: The Japanese Athlete Whose Proportions Look Straight Out Of A Romance Manhwa

By today’s standards, the average Japanese man stands at around 171cm, or 5’7″. That’s only slightly shorter than the American male average height, which is about 175cm, or 5’9″.

Average height of men by country in 2018

Of course, there are plenty of people who stand a little shorter or taller than these averages, making up the majority of populations. But then there are some who are definitely outliers, such as the Japanese professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani.

Born on July 5, 1994, Ohtani is 29 years old and acts as the pitcher, designated hitter, and outfielder for his team. And standing at 193cm (roughly 6’4″), he makes his fellow teammates look practically tiny in comparison!

He’s had a very successful run as a baseball player, especially during the 2021 season, where he “became the first in the history of Major League Baseball with 10+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases as a hitter and 100+ strikeouts and 10+ pitching appearances as a pitcher in the same season while also holding at least a share of the major league lead in home runs in fourteen starts.” In fact, his peak in his career is considered among the greatest in baseball history, being compared even to the legendary Babe Ruth!

However, it’s not his impressive achievements that have earned him a post on an online Korean forum, but his incredible physique and proportions. Given that he’s over 20cm (or about 8″) taller than the average Japanese man, not to mention he has some of the broadest shoulders we’ve ever seen, both fans and those who didn’t know him prior to the post are singing his praises.

Compared to his relatively youthful-looking face, too, people are loving the duality that he has in his appearance!

Some comments are even comparing him to manga or manhwa protagonists, who have notoriously unrealistic body proportions. And people are overall just swooning over the images shared of him on the post.