on Japan

Note: Until recently, J. F. Oberlin University was called ‘Obirin University’. However, many students, faculty, clubs and sports teams still prefer to use the old name.

My best memory in my baseball life is the Japan Championship in summer, 2007. It was a very hot summer. Our team, Obirin baseball club came first. It was my first time to become a champion so I was deeply moved by it.

2 years ago, when I was freshman, we had a university baseball tournament in Sendai. We were still semi-hard ball baseball team. To be honest, most of us did not want to go it and we wanted our team to lose at an early date. One of the reason was I could not get in the bench so I had to do some cheering in the seats. Another reason was if we won one game, we would have had to pay $100 for our hotel each day. So at first, we did not back up at all and we guessed our team is going to lose soon.

However, our team betrayed our hope. We were so strong. Obirin showed overwhelming strength to other team. Then our mind was changed as we went along. The semifinal game, we really wanted our team to win the game. The game was the most exiting game in the tournament. The opposing team、Chukyo University was a one of the favored team in this championship. Actually, Chukyo was so strong. They had a good pitcher so we could not get a run but in the 8th inning, our team got 2 runs. Finally, we won by a 3 to 1. We cheered so hard from the seats so when our team won, I was so happy. At the end of game, I had pain in my throat because of screaming so much. We won the final which was Tohoku Gakuin University by a 6 to 1. Then we came in first. I could not believe it. Maybe no one guessed we could be champion in this tournament.

After the final game, we had a meeting. The senior players retired after that. Each one of the member of the seniors gave us some comments. Some people were crying. Actually I did not like some seniors but when I thought this is last time to meet them, I was so sod and I felt I wanted to play baseball more with them. At the night, we had a triumphal celebration. We drank so much. During the celebration, we met the final opposing team Tohoku Gakuin University by sheer accident. But they were willing to celebrate us. I felt so happy. We had a good memory. I could not sleep with an exiting feeling.

The next day, we came back to Tokyo. After we came back to Tokyo, a lot of people celebrated us. Many people said congratulation to me. Obirin University displayed a banner on the wall of Meimei-kan. We made a championship t-shirts, championship straps and championship rings. My name is carved on the inside of the championship ring. These are my treasures. I will never lose these and memories forever and ever.