Musashi Fuchu wins Japan, Heads to Williamsport

EDITORS NOTE: Fumio Ishii, our Japanese Little League correspondent, covered the Japanese Little League Tournament for us this week and did an amazing job bringing words and images to us from games that we never get to hear about. Here’s his recap of the national championship game and a scouting report on Musashi Fuchu, the team which will represent Japan in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series.



Just got back from the Japanese Little League Tournament (Zavas Cup) and as I predicted, Musashi Fuchu Little League will be taking their third trip to Williamsport and gunning for their second Little League World Series title since 2003. Please bear with me as all the Japanese Little League programs are in Japanese so I might get the names wrong because there are so many ways to pronounce the characters.

Musashi Fuchu has been known for their potent offense in the past. The first four hitters in their lineup include right fielder Kazuteru Ishida (石田和輝), shortstop Sho Miyao (宮尾将), third baseman Shunpei Takagi (高木俊平), and left fielder Takuma Gomi (五味卓馬). From the Zavas Cup tournament, most of the runs were scored by these top four players, but they also have good hitters in the bottom of the order too.

On defense, there are four players returning from last year’s Musashi Fuchu team which was the Tokyo runner up to the 2012 Little League World Series Champions Kitasuna Little League. They are Miyao, Gomi, second baseman Dai Okada (岡田大), and first baseman Kensuke Tsuchida (土田健輔). Their defense is very solid. Miyao looked like Ozzie Smith at times, he has very good range.

Like Kitasuna last year, they do have a big team, but their big boys are mostly on the bench. I can’t trust the measurements from the Little League program, because last year, they listed Kotaro Kiyomiya as 5-foot-9 and 176 pounds. I stood next to him and I’m 5-foot-11 and weigh over 200 pounds. Kiyomiya is bigger than me, so I knew his measurements had to be wrong unless I really shrank. It was ESPN who got his measurement right of 6-foot-1 and over 200 pounds. Fuchu has six players over 5-foot-6. The biggest player is (TKO) Ryutaro Takeo (竹尾竜太朗).  I never stood next to him, like I did with Kiyomiya, but I know he weighs more than 200 pounds and is 5-foot-9. He is a backup catcher and a closer. He throws in the low to mid 70’s. Then, there is another player, Ryu Nagano (永野龍李), who is around 6-feet, 140 pounds. I see him being used as a middle reliever, but he’s mostly on the bench. Keita Saito (齊藤恵太) is around 5-foot-8,  150 pounds and used as backup left fielder and middle reliever. Shinya Nishino (西野清也) looks like their starting left handed pitcher who is 5-foot-10, 130 pounds. I don’t see him playing other positions besides pitcher. Toru Kobayashi is 5-foot-10 and 160 pounds and he was a middle reliever.

 The pitching is kind of erratic. When I mean erratic, I mean wild. It seems like their manager Masumi Ohmae wanted his big kids to pitch regardless of control. Their ace seems to be Shinya Nishino who is a south paw, he seems to throw in the high 60’s to low 70’s, but he has control problems and easily rattled when someone hits the long ball off him. Their other pitcher is their leadoff hitter Kazuteru Ishida. He seems to throw in the low 70’s too, but also has control problems. Then they have Saito who has heat, but control problems as well as middle reliever Nagano. He has heat, but control problems too. TKO is their closer, but I know that Ohmae does not want to use him for more than an inning. He closed a bases loaded no out jam in the 1st round of the tournament. He seems to have a pretty good velocity too.

Overall, this is no Kitasuna of last year. They are always known for their hitting, but I don’t think they are as good as the team in 2003 when Yutaro Tanaka caused havoc with his bat and on the mound to win the Little League World Series. This reminds me much more like the 2000 team which got beaten in the International Finals against Venezuela. I think they will be playing in the Little League World Series Finals, because their offense is better than the 2000 team and compares well against the 2003 team. Maybe the Japanese hitters were good this year which made the pitching staff look bad. I’m not sure. This team is beatable compared to last year’s Kitasuna team but that was the best team I’ve ever witnessed.

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Japan's National Little League Tournament

Let me introduce myself, my name is Fumio Ishii. I was born and raised in the U.S., and got my BA from University of Southern California. I have lived in Tokyo for over 12 years, working either as a Broadcast Engineer or IT Engineer. 

I've been following Japanese Little League ever since Taiwan got caught red-handed by Japan for cheating in 1997. There is an interesting book about the Taiwanese Little League Dynasty called, “The Game of Isolation” and you can buy it at Amazon.com. I read the book and understood why Taiwan would go through all this trouble to win the Little League World Series. Taiwan (Republic of China) were in a Civil War with mainland China (People’s Republic of China). The Republic of China used the Little League World Series to put their country on the map. Read that book and you will understand why Taiwan went that far to establish a Little League dynasty. In order for them to play in Williamsport, they had to defeat Japan. If they played by the rules, it would be very difficult for Taiwan to defeat Japan consistently, so they had to create an all-national team by using illegal players to  represent the Far East. Little League only allowed 1 team from Asia to represent the Far East during that time. Now the new setting is different. If a Japanese team wins their national tournament, they automatically represent as Japan in the LLWS.

What you hear on ESPN is semi-true about Japanese Little League. Little League baseball is very unpopular in Japan. They take the back seat to high school baseball. In the US, every kid dreams of playing in Lamade Stadium, a field built specifically for Little League. In Japan, they have to share a high school stadium (SEE PHOTO ABOVE).

Last year, when Kitasuna Little League won the Japanese Tournament, the final which was supposed to be played in Edogawa High School Stadium was rained out. So the makeup game was held in a dumpy place near Kasai Rinkai Koen in the middle of nowhere. Even worse, there were no bleachers to sit in so it was very uncomfortable to watch the game. They couldn’t have the makeup game held in Edogawa High School Stadium, because they high school tournament started, and Little League had to take a backseat to high school baseball.

If only Japan had a dedicated stadium built for Little League, like San Bernadino for the Western Regional, it would be much more comfortable to watch the game and enjoyable for the kids to play in. Little League baseball is also not televised on public TV, because the general public doesn't care. Even the Little League World Series is not televised live. Japan has one of the worst ESPN networks in the world. It’s more of an informercial than a sports channel. So the only televised game they would see are reruns.

It is very difficult to get Little League results in Japan, because Japanese newspapers don’t pay any attention to Little League baseball. Unpage.org also has difficult time getting real time results for the Japanese Little League Tournament.

My 1st visit to the Japanese Little League tournament was back in 2008. I met this other American ex-Pat who checked out the game and we had a conversation about the tournament. He complained that this recreational park was very difficult to watch the tournament, because the Edogawa Stadium were being used for high school baseball. After he left, because he felt too uncomfortable to watch the game, this Japanese Little League representative was stunned to see a foreigner like myself to watch the All-Japan Little League tournament. He asked me, “How did you find this place?” I replied, “I searched and searched until I finally found some info on where Little League baseball tournament was held!” He didn't realize how popular Little League baseball is in the U.S., because in Japan, they have to take the back seat to high school baseball.

I was able to get a lot of information from this Japanese representative, and followed Little League baseball in Japan ever since. 

I can give you a brief history of the Little League Tournament in Japan. Tokyo area has won more national tournaments than any other prefecture in Japan. Out of the eight Little League World Series championships won by Japan, six were won by Tokyo teams.

Here are the following results of all the LLWS championships won by Japan:

1967 West Tokyo Little League (Tokyo)
1968 Wakayama Little League (Osaka)
1976 Chofu Little League (Tokyo)
1999 Hirakata Little League (Osaka) 
2001 Kitasuna Little League (Tokyo)
2003 Musashi Fuchu Little League (Tokyo)
2010 Edogawa-Minami Little League (Tokyo)
2012 Kitasuna Little League (Tokyo)

In the Tokyo tournament, it is pretty much dominated by the following 4 Little League teams:

Kitasuna Little League
Edogawa Little League
Musashi Fuchu Little League
Chofu Little League

For the past 20 years, one of those teams listed above represented Tokyo for the National tournament.

This year, the Musashi Fuchu Little League represents the Tokyo Little League Champs and Chofu Little League represents the runner-up.

Musashi Fuchu should be the favorite to win the Japanese National Little League Tournament. They have four players who return last year team which represented the Tokyo runner up to Kitasuna. They have Little League Tournament experience.

Here are the results for the games of June 29th:

Game 1: Musashi Fuchu 6-3 over Hiroshima Saiki
Game 2: Kishiwada (Osaka) 8-0 over Sapporo Shiroishi
Game 3: Owari Ichinomiya 6-0 over Kumamoto Chuo
Game 4: Sendai Aoba 2-0 over Omiya
Game 5: Yokohama Aoba 9-2 over Hamamatsu Minami
Game 6: Chofu (Tokyo) 3-2 over Ehime Tobu
Game 7: Miyagino 6-2 over Matsudo (Chiba)
Game 8: Ueda Minami 16-5 over Takarazuka
Game 9: Musashi Fuchu 11-1 over Kishiwada (Osaka)

Musashi Fuchu are a big team, but their biggest players are bench players which I find extremely odd. They have four players over 5-foot-7. Their biggest player is 5-foot-10 and over 200 pounds. He’s not as big as Kotaro Kiyomiya from last years Kitasuna team, but he’s still a big kid. He isn't a starter, however. He is their closer, they call him TKO. This Musashi Fuchu team is not as good as the Kitasuna team which dominated the LLWS tournament last year. They do have a solid offense and very impressive defense. I would say their defense is better than Kitasuna, but their offense and pitching isn't as good. They might be as good as the 2003 Musashi Fuchu team which won it all that year.

Blog post written by: Fumio Ishii

Editor's Note: Thanks to Fumio for the great details and look into the Japanese tournament. It's a prospective we don't see often here in the states.

Welcome to the 2013 Road to Williamsport

Hello everyone to another year of the Little League International Tournament. We're really going to blow it out of the box this year. We're going to have more contributors to the blog, so I don't have the brunt of the writing.

We have representatives from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Washington D.C in the states. We'll see if anyone wants to contribute from outside the region as well. Our first guest entry is going to be written all the way from Japan though. It's extremely insightful into what it takes to get through the Japanese National Tournament on the way to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series.

If you'd like to be a contributor with any recaps, previews, history, general thoughts, or anything really... just email me: Section1GuyCom@aol.com.


Check back daily. Thanks!


-John Malone, blog creator

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

With rain pelting the northeast today, it's highly unlikely that they get the final US championship game in today. It doesn't even look promising for Monday.

I know this much though. The Little League World Series is shaping up to be a dandy, especially if Keystone, PA wins.

Competitively, it's probably going to come down to Warner Robins, GA and Ocean View, CA, but add the fan bases for those teams plus Keystone hailing from just 25 miles away. Williamsport could be rocking with over 40,000 fans a day.

Montana winning the Northwest is an incredible feat. Being in Williamsport will be a blast for those guys. The only thing missing to make this LLWS complete is the Ugandan team from Africa. It stinks that we are stuck with the boring Arabian American Little League from RSA once again. If Uganda had overage players though, I guess it's the right move. If it was just political red tape, however, then it's a travesty that those boys won't be making the trip.

Be prepared for the most in-depth Little League World Series preview of all-time once the field is set.

Also, ESPN Classic usually runs LLWS games this week leading up to the series. It's always the standbys of 1980, 1982, 1989, 2007.  Well, this year, they've gone to the extreme. You can see games from almost every year of the 2000s, plus the greatest pitching duel ever in 2002. Add in Sean Burroughs team, and Todd Frazier, and it's a Little League fan's dream come true.

What was your favorite game, team, player ever???  Tell me in the comments.

UPDATE: 4:28P.M--  The Mid-Atlantic championship is still in a rain delay. Keystone, PA and Paramus, NJ are currently scoreless through three innings. Sources have told me that if the game is not completed by midnight tonight that Keystone, PA will be awarded the regional championship based on their record in the regional. Little League is doing everything they can to get the game in, however.

Also, Paramus was given the opportunity to play the game yesterday in an effort to get it in, but declined due to the eligibility of its star pitcher, Hiro Mizutani. Further updates will come as I get them.

7:18P.M.-- The tarp is still on the field. A lot of rain has fallen. I would hope they only play this game if the field is actually playable. The story that Pennsylvania will be named the champs is premature. Although, it is still an option. Keep watching ESPN2 and checking this blog for updates.

9:14P.M.-- Finally, the Mid-Atlantic Regional final was postponed for the night. New Jersey and Pennsylvania will resume the championship game at 10A.M. Monday morning in the top of the 4th inning. There will be no Garbrick or Mizutani on the mound. ESPN was incorrectly reporting that the pitchers were over 21 pitches and therefore could not finish the game. They were wrong. It's because the pitchers are over 41 pitches that they can't finish their 85. It's a special pitch count rule for weather-related postponements.