Henoko fight

Koshien is ‘Field of Dreams’ for Japanese baseball youth

Tokyo tries to soften Okinawa with ¥300 billion budget

The JapaneseNational HighSchool BaseballC h a m p i o n s h i p

Tournament, known as‘Koshien’, is a high schoolbaseball tournament takingplace two times every year,in spring and summer, inwhich 49 high schoolteams vie for the top spotamong the high schoolbaseball teams in thenation.

‘Koshien’ gets its thename of the HanshinKoshien Baseball Stadiumin Hyogo Prefecture, inwhich the championshiphas been determined formore than 100 years. Thefirst tournament was playedin 1915, with a break onlyduring the war years.Practically the wholenation focuses its attentionon Koshien Stadium duringthe tournaments, and it can

justly be considered as theholiest of holy temples ofJapanese high school base-ball.

The teams, which sur-vived the regional champi-onships as basically justone team will be selectedper each prefecture, beganto play in this year’s tour-nament on Aug. 6th.Playing at the Koshientournament is the dream ofevery high school boy inthe nation playing baseballand, at the same time, thebiggest chance to go on toa professional career inbaseball.

Players like Hideki‘ Godzilla’ Matsui, YuDarvish and MasahiroTanaka all played for theirschool teams at theKoshien tournamentattracting the attention oftalent scouts. Ichiro playedthere twice, in summer and

spring tournaments,although he did not getmuch attention at that timeand his team lost in the firstround. All these playersbecame professionals andwent on remarkable careersin the U.S. Major Leagues.

The Japan NationalHigh School Base BallTournament celebrates its100th anniversary this year,and the Koshien tourna-ment will take place over15 days from August 6th.Every high school team inthe tournament has enthusi-astic supporters at KoshienField to cheer them up,while people who areunable to go to the venuefollow the games glued totheir TV sets, as all match-es are broadcast live on thenational TV. Talk aboutKoshien is everywhere inschools and work places,

Continues on page 3

Konan High School baseball team after winning the National Summer Champioshiptitle in 2010. The team’s coach Masaru Gakiya is standing on right.

Konan High School team went to Koshien for the first time in 1966.

In an apparent attempt to alleviate ten-sions between his government andOkinawa Prefecture over the construc-tion of the replacement facility for

MCAS Futenma in Henoko, Prime MinisterShinzo pledged to do all he can to earmarkmore than ¥300 billion ($2.4 billion) for thedevelopment of Okinawa in the fiscal 2016budget. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onagahad made a request for ¥300 billion when hehad a meeting with Abe on Aug. 7 inTokyo.

In a news conference on the same day,Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga hadstated, “We will promote development ofOkinawa as a national strategy.”

The announcement came after the Abegovernment has seen opinion polls showinghis support number going downhill lately,mainly because of the security legislationthat Abe is trying to ram through the Diet,but is facing a stiff opposition from almostall quarters of the society. The governmentapparently fears that its support rate couldtank further if the fight with Okinawa getsout of hand.

To sweeten the pot, Abe already hadannounced on Aug. 4th the suspension byone month of all construction work relatedto the Henoko plan, during which the gov-ernment intends to have ‘intensive dialogue’with Okinawa. The first such meeting took

place Monday, when Suga arrived atOkinawa and had a dinner meeting withGovernor Onaga. The second meeting tookplace Tuesday afternoon.

According to many observers, while thetruce offers at least a temporary relief fromhostilities in relations between Okinawa andTokyo, prospects for reaching a resolution tothe conflict are next to nil. “It will be diffi-cult to make a drastic change in the plans,” ahigh-ranking official of the central govern-ment said before the talks in Okinawa.

Okinawan officials insist that there is noroom for compromise with the central gov-ernment on the relocation. Some are suggest-

ing asking the central government to extendthe suspension period indefinitely. “The bestsolution for now would be the extension tobecome indefinite for now,” an official withthe Okinawa side said informally.

Aug. 13, 2015 - Aug. 19, 2015

¥150 Fantastic OkinawaLocal News

ClassifiedsOkinawan Culture

WeatherJU Weekly Raffle

Events this weekEnglish Lesson

HoroscopeRecipe

2

2

Fantastic Okinawa

2Japan Update Classifieds Aug. 13, 2015 - Aug. 19, 2015

Umikaji Terrace is the newest fun spot on Senaga Island

Senaga Island, a tiny islandconnected with theOkinawa main island by acauseway and located just

south of the Naha Airport run-way, has seen plenty of construc-tion lately.

First, The Ryukyu OnsenSenagajima Hotel was built ontop of the hill in the middle of theisland. It opened in December2012. On Aug. 1st, a cluster ofmore than 30 stores opened on thewest coast of the island just downthe hill from the hotel. The group

of shops, called Umikaji (seabreeze) Terrace sits on 7,000square meters of land, and fea-tures a collection of small restau-rants, bars, sundry stores and bou-tiques.

A specialty is a flight simula-tor where visitors can sit downand experience how it feels to flyan aircraft without having to beafraid of a crash. Marine activitiesare available at an adjacent beachincluding banana boats, snorkel-ing and diving. All necessary gearis available for rent. Live music

and dance shows are performedon an outdoor stage every dayweather permitting.

Senaga Island is known forits beautiful sunset views andUmikaji Terrace is a superb placeto enjoy them. Senaga Islanditself has long been a favorite spotfor fans of aircraft as it lies almostbelow the Naha Airport landingand takeoff path.

Designers of the UmikajiTerrace had in mind a concept ofa town by the sea in southern Italyor Greece, a small place with

white buildings contracting theemerald green sea and deep bluesky, where people can relax andenjoy a beautiful sunset with goodfood and a refreshing drink. In thenighttime the area is lit withromantic tiki torches.

Umikaji Terrace is openevery day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.Free parking for up to 700 vehi-cles is available in the park on thetop of the island and also near theentrance. Umikaji Terrace web-site is at http://www.umikajiter-race.com/

Umikaji Terrace opening party was held on Aug. 1st.

30 stores dot the slope.

Umikaji Terrace has daily live entertainment weather permitting.

2