Bungo Shirai (白井 文吾, Shirai Bungo, 27 January 1928 – 29 October 2024) was a Japanese journalist and businessman, who was the president of Chunichi Shimbun[1] and owner of Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Chunichi Dragons.
In 1949 Shirai started working at Chubu Nippon Shimbun Co. (Now Chunichi Shimbun Co.) As a journalist, Shirai covered violent crimes within the society department.
While working with the society department he edited "Retsujitsu Saipantō" (The Blazing Sun of Saipan) in 1979, a book touching on the experiences of Japanese soldiers in Saipan during World War II.
[9] After the Dragons lost to the Nippon Ham Fighters in the 2006 Japan Series Shirai stood by then manager, Ochiai and kept him on for the 2007 season ultimately leading to Chunichi's first Japan Series win in 53 years.
[10] Shirai was also known to have a dislike of the long-serving Kazuyoshi Tatsunami to a point where the player was convinced that he would never be manager of the team while the president remained in charge.