Yakult's Munetaka Murakami, aiming for the majors, casually wears a luxury watch

Munetaka Murakami of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows is known as one of the most powerful hitters in professional baseball. He was unanimously awarded the Central League MVP in 2022, and is expected to win both the home run and RBI titles in 2024. His success shows no signs of slowing down. In this edition of Celebrity Watch Hunting, we take a look at the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, a watch that Munetaka Murakami wears.

Attention is focused on his relationship with Takeshi Kitano

　Munetaka Murakami of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (hereinafter referred to as Yakult Swallows) delighted fans by posting a photo of himself with Takeshi Kitano on Instagram.

　This post was made on December 12, 2022, the year the Yakult Swallows won the league championship. The Orix Buffaloes won the Japan Series with a 2-4 record, marking their first victory in 26 years. It's no exaggeration to say that Munetaka Murakami was an indispensable presence in the Yakult Swallows' success.

　Munetaka Murakami was selected as the professional baseball MVP for the second consecutive year, along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who currently plays alongside Shohei Ohtani on the Los Angeles Dodgers. This year, Munetaka Murakami was the fourth player (seventh time) to win the award by unanimous vote, the first time in 45 years since Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants in 1977, which also delighted fans.

　The photo above shows the moment he gave Takeshi Kitano a souvenir from their trip to Hawaii to celebrate their victory, and has garnered 12.3 likes to date. Followers commented with excitement, saying things like, "The collaboration between the world-famous Takeshi Kitano and the Central League's Murakami is amazing," and "God and God," and the photo was widely covered in the media as an exchange between two big names in baseball and entertainment.

　Takeshi Kitano revealed in an interview in May 2024 that he continues to keep an eye on Munetaka Murakami's performance. With Shohei Ohtani's performance being praised all over Japan, when asked "Which player do you hope will be the next to try his hand at the majors?", he named Munetaka Murakami, showing that the two have built a good relationship.

Munetaka Murakami, known as the Babe Ruth of Higo

　Munetaka Murakami's baseball career began at the age of four, when he began playing catch. He began learning baseball with his older brother when he was in kindergarten, and soon after he expressed his desire to become a professional baseball player. When he entered elementary school, he joined a club team and began playing baseball in earnest.

　During his junior high school days, he joined the Kyushu Select Team and even toured Taiwan. In high school, he established himself as a regular first baseman from his first year, and made a spectacular debut in the Kumamoto Tournament, hitting a grand slam home run in his first at-bat as the cleanup hitter. He only played in Koshien once, in his first year, but his extraordinary power as a hitter earned him the nickname "Babe Ruth of Higo."

　He was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in 2017, and commented on his goal: "I want to become a player who can contribute to the team not only by hitting home runs, but also by batting appropriately for the situation, such as with sacrifice flies and base hits. And one day, I want to represent Japan." Since turning pro, he has reached an annual salary of 100 million yen in just his fourth year, tying Masahiro Tanaka and Yu Darvish for the fastest time in history.

　In 2024, he struggled from the start of the season, even breaking his own personal worst record, but he gradually regained his form and eventually won the double crown of home run king (for the third time in two years) and RBI king (for the second time in two years) with 33 home runs and 86 RBIs. He also set numerous records, including his 200th NPB home run, breaking the record held by Kazuhiro Kiyohara as the youngest player to do so.

The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar elegantly incorporates a complex mechanism

　Murakami's favorite watch is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. Its Grande Tapisserie blue dial, luminous white gold applied hour markers and Royal Oak hands, and blue inner bezel create a refreshing impression. The watch features a month and leap year display at 12 o'clock, a date display at 3 o'clock, a moon phase at 6 o'clock, and a day of the week display at 9 o'clock. Despite its complex mechanism, it offers excellent legibility, and the overall balance of the dial creates a neat and tidy impression.

　The 41mm stainless steel case is fitted with the Caliber 5134 movement, which is deeply linked to the history of Audemars Piguet's complication models and is a descendant of the Caliber 2120/2800, which was released in 1978. At 3.95mm, the Caliber 2120/2800 was the world's thinnest automatic perpetual calendar movement at the time, and it supported Audemars Piguet during its period of growth, occupying a key position within the Maison.

　Munetaka Murakami pairs this superb watch, both in appearance and in its contents, with a simple T-shirt, and seems to be a watch he wears casually and proactively. In his most recent post, he paired a Prada T-shirt with a silver bracelet from the Tiffany & Co. Hardware Collection on his right hand, treating it as a casual item that exudes the boldness that is unique to Munetaka Murakami.

　At the press conference following his contract renewal in 2024, he mentioned that he would be transferring to the MLB via the posting system after the end of next season, so it may be a little while before we see Munetaka Murakami in Japan. For that reason alone, there will likely be a lot of attention focused on how Murakami performs in 2025.