Tomoyo Shibata has been living in Boston for close to 20 years. The city first knew her as a Red Sox wife, but in Japan she was a Nippon TV sports broadcaster who covered the Sydney Olympics, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the Athens Games. A tabloid scandal in 2000, a marriage four years later, and a move to the United States in 2007 took her life in a different direction. She has not moved back.
Table of Contents
| Born | December 23, 1974, Chikushino, Fukuoka, Japan |
|---|---|
| Legal name | Tomoyo Matsuzaka |
| Education | Keio University, Faculty of Law (Political Science), 1998 |
| Career | Nippon TV sports announcer, 1998 to 2004; freelance broadcaster and author from 2004 |
| Married | Daisuke Matsuzaka, December 2004 |
| Children | Three |
| Current residence | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
Growing Up Without Her Father
Shibata was born on December 23, 1974 in Chikushino, Fukuoka, in the south of Japan. Her father, a dentist, was killed in a traffic accident when she was one year old. She was raised by her mother alone from that point.
She attended Chikushi Jogakuen High School in Fukuoka, where she spent one year on a student exchange in Missouri, USA. That early time in America proved significant later in life. After returning to Japan, she gained admission to Keio University and graduated from the Faculty of Law, Political Science department in 1998.
Six Years as a Nippon TV Sports Broadcaster
Shibata joined Nippon Television Network (NTV) in 1998, straight out of Keio. Her entire career at the network was built around sports.
Her main role was sub-caster on Sports Urugusu, NTV’s flagship evening sports programme, from October 3, 1998 to November 28, 2004. Beyond the regular slot, she covered three of the biggest broadcast events of that period:
- 2000 Sydney Olympics โ studio caster
- 2002 FIFA World Cup (Japan/South Korea) โ studio caster
- 2004 Athens Olympics โ on-site field caster, reporting from Greece directly
Her other credits at NTV included Evening Press Donna (caster), the weather segment on Zipang Asa 6, and stage assistant on THE Yoru mo Hippare from October 2000 to December 2001.
One piece of context: NTV carried a long institutional tie to the Yomiuri Giants. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who she was already seeing, played for the Seibu Lions, a team backed by TV Asahi, NTV’s direct rival. In Japanese broadcasting, the convention had long been for female announcers to marry players from their own network’s affiliated teams. Shibata and Matsuzaka were an exception to that in every sense.
The 2000 Scandal: A Suspended Licence, a Team Car, and His 20th Birthday
Shibata and Matsuzaka first met through sports coverage in 1999, when he was a rookie with the Seibu Lions. The relationship stayed out of the press until September 2000.
On August 30, 2000, Matsuzaka’s driving licence was suspended for two months after a speeding violation exceeding 50 km/h above the legal limit.
On September 13, 2000, the night of his 20th birthday and the exact day he reached the age of legal majority in Japan, Matsuzaka drove a Seibu Lions team car to Shibata’s apartment without a valid licence and parked illegally outside. The car was towed the next morning. Akira Kuroiwa, the Lions’ Public Relations Manager, told police he had been the driver that night to shield Matsuzaka from consequences. A tabloid photographer had documented the entire sequence.
The cover-up went nowhere. Both men were prosecuted. Matsuzaka paid a 195,000 yen fine and was placed under house arrest for one month by the Lions, later reduced after he showed remorse.
Much of the media criticism landed on Shibata rather than Matsuzaka. She was 25 at the time, six years older than the pitcher, and a well-known television professional with a significant fanbase. Several outlets accused her of having initiated the relationship. The criticism directed at her was sustained and, by most accounts, disproportionate.
They stayed together through all of it. Four years later, Matsuzaka announced their engagement.
Leaving NTV, the Marriage, and the First Child
Shibata’s final broadcast on Sports Urugusu aired on November 28, 2004. She left NTV in December 2004 when the couple married โ five years after they first met through baseball coverage.
After leaving the network, she continued working as a freelance broadcaster. Her first post-NTV television appearance came on April 3, 2005, on Sekai Ururun Taizaiki Special (MBS/TBS network). She also appeared on covers of women’s magazine saita (Seven & i Holdings) on an irregular basis while taking on other freelance work around Matsuzaka’s schedule.
Their first child, a daughter named Niko (ๆฅๅ , meaning “sunlight”), was born in December 2005.
Three Children, Two of Them Born in the United States
In December 2006, Matsuzaka signed a six-year, $52 million contract with the Boston Red Sox through Japan’s posting system. In 2007, Shibata moved to Boston with Matsuzaka and Niko. Two more children were born in the United States:
| Child | Born | Born in |
|---|---|---|
| Son | March 15, 2008 | Boston, USA |
| Second daughter | March 2010 | Boston, USA |
Both the son and the second daughter were born in America. All three children have grown up in Boston, bilingual in Japanese and English.
A Parenting Blog, Three Books, and the Red Sox Wives’ Circle
In Boston, Shibata joined the Boston Red Sox wives’ association and ran an official parenting blog, Tomoyo Shibata’s Childcare Diary (ๆด็ฐๅซไธใฎ่ฒๅ ใใคใขใชใผ), documenting daily life in America.
She published three books during this period:
| Title | Publisher | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Smile | Poplar-sha | March 2008 |
| Dear Important Person: Healthy Eating in Boston | Village Books | July 2008 |
| The Smart Relationship Between Child-Rearing and Mum | Bestsellers | December 2011 |
The second book was supervised by acclaimed Japanese chef Hiromitsu Nozaki, drawing on her experience managing a household abroad.
On December 31, 2012, she announced she was suspending the blog. She cited physical exhaustion from raising three children.
In 2013, when Matsuzaka signed with the New York Mets, she chose to keep the children in Boston rather than relocate again. He went alone. In Japanese, the arrangement is called ๅ่บซ่ตดไปป (solo posting), where an employee lives apart from their family for work. For Shibata, it was a decision about the children’s schooling and their lives in the city they had grown up in.
Where Is Tomoyo Shibata Now?
As of 2026, Shibata is still in Boston.
When Matsuzaka returned to Japan to play for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 2015, then the Chunichi Dragons in 2018, and finally the Saitama Seibu Lions before his retirement in October 2021, she remained in the United States throughout. He is now based in Japan, working as a baseball commentator and media personality. Their children, raised in Boston, are now adults or approaching adulthood.
Japanese media has returned to the subject of their long-distance living arrangement on multiple occasions, with divorce speculation surfacing in several outlets. Sourced reporting consistently attributes the arrangement to the children’s education and upbringing, not to any breakdown between them. After Matsuzaka’s retirement ceremony, Josei Jishin magazine reported the couple had sold a luxury apartment in Fukuoka.
In October 2021, the month Matsuzaka formally retired from professional baseball, Shibata gave an interview to Josei Jishin. Asked about her role across 17 years of marriage, she said: “Whether in Japan or America, being his best friend is my role.”
Matsuzaka is in Tokyo. Tomoyo Shibata is still in Boston.
