The 106th National High School Baseball Championship began at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday.
At the opening ceremony, Ishikawa Prefectural Anamizu High School, which was damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake on Jan 1, led the way, Kyodo News reported. Anamizu was followed by players from 49 schools, including Kendai Takasaki (Gunma), which is aiming to become the eighth school in history to win both the spring and summer championships.
As a measure against the heat, this year's tournament will introduce a "morning and evening two-part system" in which games will be divided into morning and evening sessions on the first to third days, when there are three games per day.
The tournament will be held over 17 days, including rest days, with the final taking place on Aug 23.
© Japan Today
27 Comments
Login to comment
Cephus
Best of luck to you'll give it your best shot and may the best team win. Always fun watching how competitive the National High School Base Ball Championship can be.
Negative Nancy
All the marching and militarism is so weird.
Good luck to everyone except my local team, who have rotten manners on the train and deserve to lose.
earsay
And all the crying after losing is very odd.
Fighto!
Good luck to all schools, participants, and officials in the 106th edition of the HS Baseball Championships at the sacred Koshien ground. Just being there will be the highlight of their lives.
No, it just shows what competing at Koshien means to them - win or lose. It transcends sport.
Some dude
"We hope to limit heat-related fatalities and serious incidents to a minimum this year" said a representative on condition of anonymity. "But frankly we'd rather watch them gaman through it so they know what to expect in the real world". When asked if the tournament was supposed to be an enjoyable experience, the representative tilted his head to one side and looked puzzled.
Some dude
All the marching and militarism is so weird.
Yeah, but it just wouldn't be Koshien otherwise, would it?
factchecker
Why torture these kids by holding it on the hottest days of the year? Is gaman worth getting heatstroke for?
lostrune2
Just don't blow out the elbows
Ego Sum Lux Mundi
This has serious Imperial Japan overtones.
Aoi Azuuri
absurd situation that make students play or cheer sports in dangerous summer heat, and adults view and enjoy it in cool room.
Japan Today article
"123 people died in Tokyo from heatstroke in July, health authorities say"
William77
Stubborn as always.
They keep pushing these boys with temperatures that are reaching nearly 40 degrees on a daily basis.
Such events should be held in autumn.
SDCA
Watching Tohoku collapse as we speak. It was good up until the 9th. Starting pitcher kept them at 1 up until then and then bad luck after bad luck + opponent getting hot at the right time. Baseball is an interesting sport, it's never over till it's over. Tohoku now losing their grip in 10th. Let's see how this plays out.
SDCA
And Tohoku makes a comeback. The tension in Koshien games are surreal.
SDCA
Going to 11th
Agent_Neo
The event is sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Company, a "self-proclaimed" quality newspaper in Japan, but they stubbornly refuse to agree to changing the date of the event because it would coincide with the summer vacation and would help boost viewership.
Isn't forcing high school students to play baseball on a scorching hot day bordering on abuse? Before people start dying, they should either build a dome or move the date to around October.
CAPTAIN
Boooring !!
NCIS Reruns
Most teams only have one decent pitcher, and the coaches will keep him on the mound until 1) the team wins the championship, irregardless of number of innings pitched; or 2) his arm falls off.
Gene Hennigh
If you read the article you would know the games are played mornings and evenings. The heat will be at least at the normal temperatures for baseball or very nearly close to it. It's exciting and of course these player go all out, which if pretty impressive to watch. The arm myth: these are high schoolers, not pros. Even the ones in the majors (Japan and the US) have no more arm problems than any one else. Look at the US pitchers. They regularly are on the injured list. The constant referring to Japanese arm problems is just band wagoning.
NCIS Reruns
Gene@It's child abuse, plain and simple, and there's no justification for it.
NCIS Reruns
I have always felt the regimentation and bullying by coaches to be a huge turnoff.
WoodyLee
Best of luck to all players / Teams. High School sports events are so much fun for the whole family.
TokyoLiving
Great !!.. good luck for everyone..
TokyoLiving
Why the negative bitterness??..
This is Japan, and Japan people has its way to do things..
Let Japan be Japan..
koiwaicoffee
Right so.
Because these kids are taught and represent many outdated values; militarism, to follow orders, gambare-ism, sexism (girls cheering their "heroes"), acceptance of bullying, ...
It's not Showa anymore!
ZENJI
Love watching these games. The intensity, the passion is so exciting.
rcch
106th National High School Baseball Championship kicks off
The 106th National High School Baseball Championship began at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Wednesday.
—
Hmm, some negative comments in this thread; “*106th National High School Baseball Championship kicks off“. 106th…—they’ve been doing this for a long time. Sure, many of us have mixed feelings about this—the militarism, the bullying (yes, that’s the right word) and all the gaman can be pretty weird, I mean, this is 2024 and at the end of the day, it’s just a game (and you know the thing about sports: it’s all about having fun) but again, this is a very old tournament with some very specific “rules*”—it’s almost like it’s part of Japan/Japanese culture; I’m not the biggest baseball fan but this unique tournament can be pretty interesting/exciting. 頑張って、everyone!