Dodger Stadium stone Japanese lantern premiers at Top Deck opening day

Opening day at Dodger Stadium Thursday will also be the first day Dodger fans will see an eight-foot-tall stone Japanese lantern on the Top Deck.

The 3,921-pound Kasuga-style stone lantern isn't new to the stadium, it's been there since 1965. But now, thanks to the Ohtani effect, it's been strategically moved to a more prominent location so more fans can appreciate it.

"The Los Angeles Dodgers are extremely excited to display a remarkable monument from our past that showcases our long-term relationship with Japan and Japanese baseball," Dodger President and CEO Stan Kasten said.

"Now that we are making the lantern more visible and more accessible, our fans will have a wonderful opportunity to connect with this part of our history on a personal level."

The Dodgers have a longstanding partnership with Japanese baseball, with goodwill exchanges and several Japan-born players making the team roster.

Japanese sports columnist Sotaro Suzuki worked with team president Walter O'Malley on the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1956 Goodwill Tour to Japan. He gifted the lantern to the Dodgers and O'Malley as a thank-you for inviting him and his wife as guests to the Grand Opening ceremony of Dodger Stadium in April 1962.

He had the lantern, sculpted in Okazaki City, shipped to Los Angeles in six sections in the winter of 1965.

Japanese natives to play for the Dodgers include Hideo Nomo, Takashi Saito, Hiroki Kuroda, Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, and now, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Ohtani signed a historic $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Yamamoto inked a $325 million, 12-year deal with the Boys in Blue.