It was Yu-Mania on Monday night in Arlington, where Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish started his first game for the Texas Rangers.
"I'm glad to be part of history," said Tak Fujita, who grew up in Japan and now lives in Irving. "It's almost like Michael Jordan coming to play in your own country in his prime -- so we kind of compare Yu with Michael Jordan, and so it's great to have someone in his prime come to States."
Many fans posed for pictures with a Darvish look-alike outside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
"Everybody say, 'Are you Yu Darvish?" "Minivish" said. "I really feel -- he really big star right now."
"We're on the 'Yu Magic Carpet, so hopefully we won't be falling off anytime soon,'" said Crystal Lowrance, of Plano.
Arlington expects so many visitors from Japan over the summer, the Arlington Visitors and Convention Bureau printed fact sheets about the city in Japanese.
"A lot of the tour operators are giving us feedback that they're waiting until after the start of the season to start booking their groups," said Jay Burress, president and CEO of the convention bureau.
At the Rangers fan shop, Darvish jerseys are selling almost as fast as his pitches.
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"The family back home in Japan is pretty excited about him being over here, so we wanted to get over here and stock up on what we can while it's around to be had," said Lewis Lindsey, of Wylie.