Introduction
Jim Allen, Columnist, The Daily Yomiuri
"Half the teams playing today will not be here tomorrow ... This is their last moment to shine, we know they're going to give everything they've got, and I think that is really the allure that Koshien has." | Watch and Read »
Marty Kuehnert, Columnist, The Japan Times
"It's the dream of any amateur baseball player in the country ... to go to Koshien. And if they win, it's the greatest glory there ever could possibly be. If they lose, you rarely see a kid that doesn't cry his heart out." | Watch and Read »
Hideki Matsui, Outfielder, New York Yankees
"It's high school students playing in the best stadium in Japan, so I think everyone feels a little nervous. You can't conquer it, you just have to play your best and concentrate." | Watch and Read »
Kazuo Sayama, Baseball Historian
"In Japan, [baseball] began at a junior high school right in the middle of Tokyo that is now Tokyo University. It was in 1872, and there was an American teacher named Horace Wilson who taught English and math." | Watch and Read »
Masayuki Tamaki, Baseball Historian
"It is sort of like a group hysteria. They think they have to cry because it's become a tradition. I do not think they are crying from the bottom of their heart." | Watch and Read »
Robert Whiting, Baseball Historian
"... You can't build character without suffering, and that's what the upperclassmen are trying to do to the lowerclassmen, either with physical punishment or verbal harassment." | Watch and Read »