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A scene from "Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams"
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'Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams': A film by Ema Ryan Yamazaki

5 Comments
By Stephen A Zurcher

Across Japan every summer, four thousand schools begin knockout competition, with only one winner from each prefecture able to advance to the Koshien baseball tournament.

Showing for the first time in Japan with English subtitles from March 26 to 28, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Kansai Chapter presents an online event for Koshien featuring a talk with director Ema Ryan Yamazaki and author Robert Whiting, who has written extensively on baseball in Japan including Koshien, in conversation with Dr Stephen Zurcher of the ACCJ.

For the first time online in Japan, on March 30, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) Kansai Chapter will view for anyone interested the beautiful movie "Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams" and will follow the viewing with a panel discussion including the movie director Ema Ryan Yamazaki and the author Robert Whiting who has written extensively on baseball in Japan including Koshien.

Head coach Mizutani's whole life has been in preparation for the historic 100th Koshien, the wildly popular high school baseball tournament that defines the Japanese summer. A stubborn but passionate man, his martial brand of baseball in Yokohama maintains all that is beautiful, if extreme, in the uniquely Japanese form of the sport — rigorous year-round training, shaved heads, and self-sacrifice. The players believe in his message that their primary goal is to grow as human beings, so cleaning the grounds and keeping impeccable manners are as important as honing their skills.

However, beyond the company line, Mizutani boils with desire to validate his career by reaching the sacred grounds of Koshien. Having always prioritized his work over family responsibilities, he has never seen his 15 year-old son, Kosho, play baseball. Rather than take him onto his own team, calling on his well-earned web of connections, he sends Kosho away to be raised by a disciple coach named Sasaki in the remote prefecture of Iwate.

Sasaki, though, has outgrown the ways of his mentor. After having raised Major Leaguers Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi, he has a progressive vision that proposes a new direction for the sport. Sasaki takes inspiration from bonsai — although wires are needed to guide young branches, those wires must be taken off at the right time. So too does modern baseball require a delicate balance between enforcement and autonomy for players. In the crucible of the Japanese summer of the 100th year of Koshien, the scoreboard will be their report card, and a referendum on their values.

For more information, to see the movie trailer and to register for this ACCJ special family event please click here.

The movie is in Japanese with English subtitles. The panel discussion with Ema and Robert will take place on Zoom from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on March 30 and be in English. Proceeds from this event will go to Kansai charities. The fee for the program is 1,800 yen for guests.

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5 Comments
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Modern Koshien is dominated by private senior highs that recruit from outside their prefectures and assemble all-star teams. Public system schools can't do this and have have only won twice in the forty spring and summer tournaments since 2000. Public schools with local kids may get to Koshien but it is very difficult for them to win the whole thing.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Be an interesting film to see. Hopefully I can catch it on youtube / streaming sometime.

And the days of "Yukio Mishima-esque" sports training are certainly passing.

Not sad to see that.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@kohakuebisu

Very true. I wonder what goes behind the scenes of these scouting/recruiting practices.

High school basketball has been following the same trend, with dodgy recruitment practices of African "exchange students", too.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Koshien is the last chance to see baseball while it's pure and before it becomes meaningless. The kids who play up to and in Koshien play it for the game, and the passion, and while I don't think they all need to ball their eyes out (win OR lose), little league and Koshien is worth watching, especially live. After that, it's all about who can sell out the most and the fastest.

I think this would be worth watching.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Please support the filmmaker. She’s trying to ‘bridge gaps’ between cultures and languages. Ema Ryan Yamazaki is a documentary filmmaker based between Tokyo and New York. With a unique perspective as an insider and outsider in both Japan and the US, Ema strives to tell stories that empathetically show human struggle and triumph.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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