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The 4th Division Police Riot Squad, located in Tachikawa, started their own baseball team on Wednesday, picking members with Koshien (Japan National High School Baseball Tournament) experience and with plans to use the physical strength cultivated in training to rock corporate teams in the Tokyo area.
Team coach, assistant inspector Akira Nakase, boasts Koshien experience as a pitcher on the Nihon University 3rd High School team. Many of the 18 players participated in Koshien on teams such as Seiko Gakuin, Chiba Keizai University High School and Chiba's Hakuryo High School.
The uniforms are based on the same dark blue as riot squad uniforms, with the police mascot "Pipo-kun" emblazoned on the left arm. During practice, a decidedly policeman-like "Roger!" can be heard across the field in response to the coach.
Looking forward to next year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, police representatives said, "I think the teamwork and judgement skills cultivated through baseball will come in handy for security at the conference."
The team still faces problems, such as the fact that they can only practice once or twice per week and that they don't own a field on which hardball can be practiced.
Said Nakase, "We're essentially starting from square one, but despite the limited practice time I think we can create a team with the cooperation of all the players."
© News reports
21 Comments
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tenguleavings
Sounds like the setup to a shonen manga that will run to about 50 volumes over 20 years.
dolphingirl
Well, the back-catcher should already have the necessary protective gear.
maxpower
Awesome! When are they playing next? Great time to start a riot I guess...
excusemesir
baseball, riot police.....what's next? military? nah
timorborder
And meanwhile Rome burns!
nath
All the bad JP Coppers we read about should form a team too and challenge these guys
wontond
Well, if there's ever a bench-clearing brawl, they will destroy the other team.
smithinjapan
Oops! Sorry, wanderlust. Didn't see your comment.
smithinjapan
n't give them cheerleaders... especially with short skirts!! They'll spend all their time groping, taking pics, and stealing their underwear before getting drunk and trying to drive home.
wanderlust
Maybe they'll be too busy taking pictures up cheerleaders' skirts to pitch, hit and catch the ball?
Altria
Difficult, because when someone throws a protectile at them, they're trained to block it with their riot shields and beat the offender senseless.
northlondon
In their first match against a Crime Suspects team from Chiba, they let a Suspect steal all the way home in his socks and they didn't even notice.
Sarge
They should name this team "The Suspects."
KyokoSmile
Good for them, Hi-de-Ho!
meloveulongtime
is this news? Almost like an Onion headline
Beelzebub
I can't wait to watch them face off against the yakuza team. PS: They'll probably take bribes and throw the game.
magpie
Yokomoc, its in the sports section. Japan's obsession with baseball runs across professional, amateur/corproate, schools and universities. No harm in this piece being in the sports section.
Good luck to them. If corporates can have sports team, no reason why the civil servcie can't!
biglittleman
They should be the best batters in the league!
Altria
Anyone who tries to steal a base is gonna get batoned down Rodney King style!
yokomoc
Bunch of guys who work together decide to form a sports team. How is this news?
Hephatsheput
haha