THE APEX TIMES
Accompanied by Mari Villalobos from the USO’s global entertainment team and by girlfriend Livvy Dunne, Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes spent time with U.S. service members and military families during a Japan tour that followed his first similar offseason visit in 2025.
Paul Skenes’ latest trip to Japan was organized around the U.S. military community, and the Pirates right-hander spent the trip moving between bases, families, and community activities rather than staying in a celebrity-only lane.
The USO’s Mari Villalobos, its Senior Director of Global Entertainment Relations, said the interactions are not new to her, but that they continue to stand out each time. She accompanied Skenes and Livvy Dunne during late-October visits focused on service members and their families, marking the second straight year Skenes has completed a USO tour.
The Japan stops began at Misawa Air Base in northeastern Japan, then expanded to Yokosuka, where the Navy’s 7th Fleet is based. After that, the trip concluded at Yokota Air Base near western Tokyo, with USO and team planning tailored to each location’s setting and schedule.
Skenes’ day-to-day activities at the bases, according to the MLB report, included eating at a base galley, talking with students at two nearby schools, hosting youth baseball clinics, and meeting members of explosive ordinance disposal teams.
Villalobos described a shift she frequently observes on USO tours, from an initial wave of excitement at seeing a well-known athlete to more ordinary conversation once baseball equipment comes out and the moment turns into shared time.