Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc., which has applied to own a professional baseball team, said Friday its ball club will be called the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
The Sendai-based team is named after golden eagles living in a range of mountainous areas in the Tohoku region, Rakuten said.
The ''Rakuten Eagles'' will be a more commonly used abbreviated name, it said.
''Since the team is going to be based in Tohoku, we decided to choose a name that has something in common with all aspects of the Tohoku region,'' Rakuten President Hiroshi Mikitani said.
Rakuten, which has already applied for trademark registration, and Internet service provider Livedoor Co. have applied to own a professional baseball team next season and their applications are being screened by baseball officials.
Livedoor is conducting Internet voting to decide the name for its baseball team.
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