[JO1] Hochi Kokoyakyu 210908

The first summer summer Koshien in 2 years
Remote report

The main character of this magazine
JO1 Kawanishi Takumi
The former high school baseball player Kawanishi Takumi (22), who is a member of the global boys group JO1, contributes his remote report about the first Summer Koshien* in two years. While recalling bittersweet memories of rainy fights in his high school days, he applauds the efforts of the players.
TN: Koshien is the Japanese High School Baseball Championship, taking place in summer and the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan, it takes place in Nishinomiya, Hyogo. Koshien is also the name of the district of Nishinomiya where the stadium (Hanshin Koshien Stadium) is located. What is interesting is that the magazine refers to THE Koshien as Summer Koshien and the Senbatsu, the slightly less important tournament in spring, as Spring Koshien. They both take place at the same place however.

TAKUMI KAWANISHI JO1
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Born on 23rd June 1999 in Hyogo prefecture. Started to play baseball at the Japanese style baseball club* during his first year of elementary school as a pitcher, shortstop and catcher. Belonged to the Japanese style baseball club in middle school as a shortstop and pitcher. In the fall of his first year of Highschool he was on the bench as center fielder. During Highschool he had 8 home runs all together. He was chosen as a member of JO1 in an audition program and made his major debut last year. The 4th single “STRANGER” is on sale right now. “There is the story of the time passing in which you were in a dark and long tunnel and your dreams and future become REAL, and there is the message that in this moment you are not alone but everyone is reaching this together.”
TN: the difference between “Japanese style” baseball 軟式(野球) and “western” baseball 野球 is that the japanese style is played with a hard rubber ball. Since the original interview distinguishes those two terms, I decided to do the same here.

A rain shortened game
Naturally, I was excited about the Summer Koshien. Unfortunately, it took place without an audience, but I think also the people who watched it on TV were invested in it. Something ordinary ended up becoming something not ordinary, but it’s great that the tournament took place and the players looked cooler, too.
Because I’m from the prefecture Hyogo, I paid attention to Osaka Toin Highschool who are also from Kinki. The first match against Tokai University Sugao High school was very hard. The pouring rain made the ball slippery and there was water floating on the ground. Just like the coach Nishitani Kouichi said, it was especially difficult for the two pitchers. I think both schools prepared themselves a lot for this day, so it was painful even when you just watched that the game was called by the rain.
In the summer of my 3rd year of highschool, it rained during the first match of the Hyogo tournament and the game was suspended. We were leading, so while we were waiting on the bench we were talking “Let’s don’t give up!”. The game was resumed, but my condition was bad and I ended up the last batter. It was frustrating and I can’t remember what happened afterwards.
TN: While the area is more commonly known as “Kansai” nowadays, “Kinki” (near the capital) is an older term for the region from the time when the capital was still Kyoto. Basically, ‘Kansai’ (west of the border) is the region as seen from the Tokyo perspective while ‘Kinki’ is from their own perspective.
Takumi talked about this in the first issue, too. Traditionally the last batter is the worst batter and he made a strike out which led to his team not advancing to the finals.

Kochi’s Moriki resembles Matsuzaka
I also felt the feelings of the players who didn’t reach Koshien like me. I’ve heard that Kochi’s Moriki Daichi threw a Japanese baseball with a speed of 150 km/h in middle school. I also did Japanese style baseball until middle school. 150 km/h is insane. Previously, for a TV program (Toresugi JO1), I was able to catch a ball from a machine with 200km/h speed, but when striking this is another story. 150 km/h, how, even if you hit it with the bat, I doubt it will fly forward. In the July issue, there was a double cover with Moriki. When I saw his face, he seemed like someone from Seibu somehow. I feel a similar vibe as Matsuzaka Daisuke. I’m a fan of the Giants*, but I’m looking forward for which team he will be nominated in the draft.
Watching the Koshien, sure enough it gives courage and wishes to the people who watch high school baseball and I thought that it’s a wonderful sport. I also just lived for 22 years, but I think things rarely go the way you want them to go. I hope that the baseball players will use this experience in their future lives and continue to work hard. I will continue to cheer for them.
TN: Matsuzaka Daisuke, currently pitcher for the New York Mets but he used to play for Saitama Seibu before transfering to the US.
Kochi High School, located in Kochi City. They didn’t qualify for the Koshien this year besides being one of the schools with the most qualifications in the past, 13 times.
Giants = Yomiuri Giants or formerly known as Yomiuri Kyojingun. A baseball team from Tokyo whose stadium is the Tokyo Dome. Okamoto Kazuma, who uses JO1’s songs as his entrance song is part of this team.
The draft is done to assign amateur baseball players to the pros.

I was surprised about the amazing top 4 domination by the local Kinki teams! TN: The top 4 this year were: Chiben Gakuen Wakayama (Wakayama), Chiben Gakuen (Nara), Ohmi High School (Shiga) & Kyoto International Highschool (Kyoto)

5th consecutive appearance in the November issue!
We are collecting things our readers want to ask Kawanishi-san about highschool baseball. More information on the official twitter and website.