--- description: Masahiro Tanaka paid an estimated $200,000 for the atypical aerial adventure title: Yankees Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka Rents Boeing 787 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Baseball](/tag/baseball/) ## Baseball Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Yankees' New Pitcher Rented a Boeing 787 to Fly From Japan  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 11, 2014 3:33 AM CUT  by [Alex Fitzpatrick](/author/alex-fitzpatrick/)  ## Alex Fitzpatrick Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 11, 2014 3:33 AM CUT Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who signed a seven-year, $155 million contract with the New York Yankees last month, didn’t waste any time when it came to spending some of that newfound wealth: on Sunday, he [chartered](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/sports/baseball/tanaka-rents-boeing-787-for-entrance.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld "undefined") a brand-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner to fly himself and six other passengers from Japan to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Total cost of the flight, chartered from Japan Airlines? $200,000, the New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/sports/baseball/tanaka-rents-boeing-787-for-entrance.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld "undefined"). FlightAware, which tracks commercial flights, had [no data available](http://flightaware.com/live/flight/JAL8808/history/20140209/0110Z/RJAA/KJFK "undefined") for the journey. The 787, Boeing’s newest jet, is a twin-engine super-modern aircraft with anywhere between 210 and 330 seats, depending on how airlines choose to configure them. Tanaka, not the Yankees, made the unusual call to charter a jet typically filled with at least a couple hundred people, the _Times_ reports. Why rent a 787? Tanaka’s due to make his pinstripes debut this week, and he wanted to beat a snowstorm currently impacting travel in the U.S. — but that doesn’t totally explain why he didn’t charter a more reasonable long-range jet for the journey. The aircraft also didn’t carry any passengers on its ferry flight back to Tokyo, making Tanaka’s adventure far from the greenest of travel arrangements. \[[New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/sports/baseball/tanaka-rents-boeing-787-for-entrance.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6619/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6619/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees/"},"headline":"The Yankees' New Pitcher Rented a Boeing 787 to Fly From Japan","datePublished":"2014-02-11T03:33:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:22:40.287Z","description":"Masahiro Tanaka paid an estimated $200,000 for the atypical aerial adventure","url":"https://time.com/6619/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees/","keywords":["Baseball","Japan","New York Yankees"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Fitzpatrick","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-fitzpatrick/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/baseball/","name":"Baseball"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6619/masahiro-tanaka-new-york-yankees/","name":"The Yankees' New Pitcher Rented a Boeing 787 to Fly From Japan"}}]}] ```