There are reasons to believe Japan’s Shohei Ohtani, on the verge of his blockbuster decision, could send the Bay Area into a frenzy by choosing to play for the Giants.

They go beyond the usual reasons free agents pick teams. In the enigmatic Ohtani’s case, it’s not about the money because international signing rules limit what teams can spend. And it’s not about the glitz and glamour.

If those were the criteria, Ohtani would be with the Yankees by now.

It’s more about what’s a perfect fit for Ohtani, 23, who has his own way of determining his next baseball home, which eventually could lead him into both the Giants’ rotation and lineup.

According to a person familiar with Ohtani’s thinking, the one-of-a-kind pitcher/hitter is trying to be respectful and courteous with his decision-making process, trying to avoid a stepping-on-toes approach to negotiations.

He has a few preferences. For example, he prefers to join a team without other Japanese players if only to avoid taking attention from his countrymen.

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He prefers to join a team that hasn’t had a Japanese superstar in its past if only to avoid comparisons.

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He prefers to play on the West Coast if only to make it easier on his family flying from Japan.

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These are preferences, not requirements. Though there are more examples of how the Giants meet the criteria — in fact, the person aware of Ohtani’s thinking said he heard the Giants and (surprisingly) the Cubs could be his final two choices — a prevailing theme in the player’s decision-making process is he’s considering others and not just himself.

The Ohtani camp is meeting with his seven finalists this week in Los Angeles. The conga line started Monday when a contingent of Giants made a spirited pitch for the special player who would join the rotation and get a few hundred at-bats as an outfielder.

All-Star catcher Buster Posey joined front-office officials Larry Baer, Brian Sabean, Bobby Evans and Jeremy Shelley, along with manager Bruce Bochy. As a whole, the Giants believe the meeting went well, but they realize six other teams are also applying full-court presses.

All the finalists — the West Coast teams (minus the A’s), plus the Cubs and Rangers — train in Arizona. Unlike the Mariners (who had Ichiro Suzuki), Dodgers (Hideo Nomo) and Rangers (Yu Darvish), the Giants have had no elite players from Japan. Their list includes Masanori Murakami, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Keiichi Yabu, Kensuke Tanaka and Nori Aoki.

In San Francisco, Ohtani could create his own legacy and avoid comparisons with Japanese legends. Then again, no player has simultaneously succeeded over a long haul as both a hitter and pitcher — 20 wins and 20 homers, anyone? — so he would be alone on that front.

Ohtani wants to grow with his new team and make sure it’s patient with his commitment to be a two-way player, which was another reason to rule out the Yankees, whose championship-or-bust mentality fuels the pressures of playing in the Bronx. The Giants have suggested they’d be creative and accommodating with Ohtani.

As part of his seemingly selfless personality, Ohtani prefers to make a decision sooner rather than later — before next week’s winter meetings, if possible — so he wouldn’t hold back a free-agent market that includes J.D. Martinez, Jake Arrieta, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and, of course, Darvish, a member of the Nippon Ham Fighters through 2011, two years before Ohtani joined the team.

Ohtani hasn’t played the outfield since 2014, serving as a designated hitter on days he didn’t pitch, but he is extremely fast and should be able to patrol the outfield without a hitch. He has played mostly right and some left, and the Giants would adjust to welcome him at either corner.

Ohtani, who’s 6-foot-4, missed much of 2017 with an ankle injury but was the Pacific League MVP in 2016, when he went 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA and hit .322 with 22 homers and 67 RBIs.

After the Fighters posted Ohtani on Friday, he was granted 21 days to choose a new team, which would pay the Fighters a $20 million posting fee. According to the international signing rules, which limit bonuses, the Giants would pay Ohtani a mere $300,000 plus the major-league minimum salary of $545,000.

The Giants and Dodgers are the lone teams still in on both Giancarlo Stanton and Ohtani, who would be a much cheaper option than trading for Stanton, who’s five years older and due $295 million over 10 years.

John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey