Who knew the Devil Rays media guide could be so entertaining?

Lost in all the Dice-K hooplah this offseason was the arrival of several other Japanese ball players to the states, among them new Devil Rays 3B Akinori Iwamura (formerly of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows). The Devil Rays won the negotiating rights to Iwamura with a high bid of $4.5 million, topping bids by the Indians and Padres. Apparently Aki, as he likes to be called, is pretty damn good, by Japanese standards at least.

Iwamura was a five-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove recipient with the Swallows. He's a career .300 hitter, collecting 188 HRs and 570 RBIs in eight seasons with Yakult. He also impressed the D-Rays by hitting .389 for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. The guide says he is a good defender - nice glove, cannon arm. But none of that has to do with why we're here this morning...

We are here because Iwamura is from a small, laid-back town in Japan called Uwajima (since when does a population of 70,000 make you a small, laid-back town?). Aki claims the town is best known for tangerines and yellowtails. Well, the Devil Rays media guide says otherwise. It appears the town's "principal claim of fame" is the Taga-jinja Shrine, a "giant phallus carved out of log." That's right, the pride of Uwajima is a 12-foot wooden schlong. The massive dong is part of an ancient fertility shrine and adjacent to a sex museum. Now I would say that's slighty more entertaining than a town famous for tangerines and yellowtails (whatever they are). And yes, I know this was a looooong way to go for a (big) dick joke...

[Thanks to benmaller.com for the tip]