In Japan, High Schoolers Use Baseball to Help Forget

[AsahinaKimi]

Takata players have extra motivation to reach the national tournament.

OFUNATO, Japan — Entering this port city by car these days means confronting nature’s fury and its fickleness all at once. The tsunami that hit Japan’s northeastern coast four months ago tore through the modest downtown, gutting buildings, crushing cars like beer cans and sweeping shops out to sea.

But in areas out of the wave’s grasp, homes stand unscathed, rice paddies are still productive, and parks are filled with squealing children.

The awkward contrast is being played out across northeastern Japan, including at schools here. Perched on a hill overlooking the destruction, Ofunato High School is much as it was before March 11, save for a few broken windows. In the lobby are several glass cases that include trophies won by the school’s baseball team.

Less than two miles away, Ofunato Higashi High School’s Kayanaka campus also escaped serious damage. But now the hallways are filled with many students from Takata High School in Rikuzentakata, which is 10 miles from Ofunato and was consumed by the tsunami. And because military jeeps and trucks are parked on Higashi’s baseball field, Takata’s team must train at another school in town.

more..
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/sports/in-japan-high-schoolers-use-baseball-to-help-forget-tsunami.html?_r=1
頑張れ日本

[Jackpine Radical]

1. In America, mobsters use baseball

bats to help others forget.

[AsahinaKimi]

2. funny.

I think it was after 9/11 that "God Bless America" was used during the 7th inning stretch at Stadiums across America. Seems, we needed Baseball too.