TOKYO —- The smell of Tokyo’s air reminds me of the time when we first came here.
The Datu Uchida Development Foundation, Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai School, and the Tokyo Kichijoji Lions Club have partnered to bring some officials of the Davao City Baseball Association then to study the baseball events that year.
It was a bright and beautiful day I remember at the stadium where Japan’s best school baseball teams were gathered.
It’s was such a huge event that seeing it, observing it from the bleachers with world champion coach Hidetoshi Suzuki, coach Boy Sarabia, coach Yusuke Uchida, and ma’am Ines Mallari, that day was unforgettable.
Davao City Baseball Cup chief umpire Rubin Mendoza and coach Ariel Izabado were also with us.
The stadium was jampacked for the 91st National High School Baseball Tournament at the Koshien Stadium. It was a Wow moment.
Later that night, the highly-reverred Datu Tatsuo Uchida has instructed his grandson Yusuke San to bring us to a professional game and observe it.
I saw one middle-aged woman displaying the jersey of Tanaka, who turned out to be the most popular player at that time, Hiroyasu Tanaka.
I didn’t know it that year, only to realize that I witnessed one outstanding player in Tokyo. He was the number 1 draft pick for the Yakult Swallows in 2005.
Now that I remembered him, I started searching for Tanaka.
I was just taking my chance, hoping to find a schedule, only to know in Google that the Nippon Professional League is on a break. Their regular season starts in March and ends in October.
Wrong timing to visit Tokyo for baseball. But you’ll never, I may find Tanaka somewhere while continuing my search.
And who knows I’ll bumped into the more popular of the Tanakas, Masahiro, who came home to Japan after playing for the New York Yankees.
You’ll never know. LoL.
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