Days before the start of the World Baseball Classic, the players representing Japan spoke to a gathering of about 1,000 fans in a hotel ballroom in the port city of Fukuoka.
Days before the start of the World Baseball Classic, the players representing Japan spoke to a gathering of about 1,000 in a hotel ballroom in the port city of Fukuoka.
The players were on stage in full uniform. They stood in two rows, most of them with their hands solemnly clasped in front of them.
When Manager Hiroki Kokubo addressed the audience, he promised Japan would win the tournament. He asked the fans for their continued support, removed his cap and bowed. The players bowed, too.
The atmosphere was tense, so much so that after Kokubo and his players marched out of the room in a single file, the event’s emcee exhaled and cracked, “It’s hard to breathe, isn’t it?”
The emcee sighed again.
“Everyone, let’s roll our shoulders and try to relax,” he said with a forced smile. “Didn’t your shoulders tighten up?”
All this for a tournament that is viewed in the United States as a glorified exhibition, if not something that should be ignored.
So, really, it’s little wonder why Japan’s success in the WBC is unmatched. No other country places as much importance on the tournament.
The Japanese were champions in 2006 and in 2009. They will take on Team USA at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, marking their fourth semifinal appearance in four WBCs.
This is more than a baseball tournament for the Japanese. The sport has become a vehicle for them to self-affirm and advertise the virtues of their culture, evidenced by the moniker by which the team is known: Samurai Japan. (Similarly, the Japanese women’s national soccer team, which won the 2011 World Cup, is called “Nadeshiko Japan,” nadeshiko being a term used to describe the ideal Japanese woman.)
While the country’s most recent generations have produced players who would be considered well-built by any standards, the Japanese have long conceded their athletes can’t physically match up with the best in the world.
