Top pitcher Yu Darvish's black sheep brother collared for clobbering
Pacific League MVP and Japan's top pitcher Yu Darvish may be the toast of the country right now. But people are scurrying to hush up the other news from the Darvish family involving the Sawamura Award winner's little brother and his own slugging, which, Shukan Shincho notes, wasn't occurring in baseball games.
As Darvish was in Taiwan, guiding Japan in tough games against fellow Asian baseball powerhouses South Korea and the host country, his little brother was getting arrested for assault back in their Osaka Prefecture hometown of Habikino.
Habikino residents remark that the 21-year-old giant of the mound was no saint himself, pointing out the Nippon Ham Fighters suspended him just as his career was starting after he was caught smoking in a pachinko parlor while he was still underage and a schoolboy.
But they add that Darvish had nothing on his younger sibling.
"He's a muscle-bound thug," a classmate of the younger brother in their elementary school days tells Shukan Shincho. "People around here are too scared to go near him because he starts swinging his fists for no reason."
A woman living in Habikino also speaks of her fear of the younger of the two Darvish boys.
"From the time he entered junior high school, he's barely stopped fighting. He's sent any number of people to the hospital. His mom always had to go around apologizing to his victims," the woman says.
An associate of the Darvish clan's youngest child elaborates.
"When he was in the second year of junior high, he smashed another kid in the face and broke his nose. That came the day after he fractured a teacher's arm," the associate says. "The school had put up with him until then, but decided it wasn't going to bear it any more. Furious with his violence, school officials called in the cops. He was still a minor at the time, so couldn't get arrested, but it was his first encounter with the long arm of the law."
With Darvish's achievements pushing him into superstar status, his parents have also been thrust into the media spotlight. Darvish's Iranian father, Farsa, has been quick to take credit for raising such a successful son.
"I can understand why he'd be proud of what Yu has done, but considering what the younger brother has been doing, I find the old man's boasting in the media of what a good job he's done with his kids is a bit hard to take," the Darvish family associate says. "I wonder what the father thinks of the victims?"
Farsa Darvish recently gave a women's magazine an exclusive interview, where he spoke about the power of Islam and how it's a religion that teaches that the strong are obliged to protect the weak -- while also making sure they use their strength to impose their will on others.
But while the Darvish parents have been more than willing to open up about their eldest son's stellar performances on the mound, they're not quite so talkative when it comes to their youngest child's slugging exploits.
"It's a private matter," Darvish's mother, Ikuyo, tells Shukan Shincho when its reporter heads to their Habikino home to question the parents about the younger brother's arrest. "And we don't answer inquiries about private issues." (By Ryann Connell)
（Mainichi Japan） December 7, 2007
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