Ward signed a contract with the Chunichi Dragons of Nippon Professional Baseball on Tuesday, Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times reports.
Ward had been booted off the Dodgers' 40-man roster last week and will now try his luck overseas. The 28-year-old has slugged 108 home runs at Triple-A Oklahoma City over the last four seasons, but he was given only 60 plate appearances in the big leagues over that time.