A cold wind welcomed baseball friendship again from Japan. The opening ceremony of the 2016 Hsinchu County Taiwan-Japan International Junior Baseball Friendly Tournament organized by Hsinchu County Government and Hsinchu County Student Baseball League was held on January 21 amidst a lively atmosphere. Two teams from Miyakonojo-shi in Miyazaki Prefecture and teams from Zhongshan, Shangguan and Wufeng elementary schools, Hsinchu community team will hold six matches over two days. County Magistrate Chiu, Ching-chun presented the teams from Japan with persimmons and bananas, which the county grows in abundance; he also used the opportunity to promote Hsinchu County’s fine agricultural products, aiming to increase friendship between Taiwan and Japan through sport and agricultural produce.
Hsinchu County Government has long cared about the development of student physical education and, in particular, has committed substantial resources to baseball, the most popular sport in Taiwan, in an effort to let baseball set down roots in Hsinchu County. In recent years, the Hsinchu County junior baseball team made up of players from Guanxi, Zhongshan and other elementary schools, have taken part in a number of domestic competitions and have achieved good results, showing the increasing effectiveness of the effort to promote baseball in Hsinchu County.
Last July, with subsidy from the county government and the Righteousness Love Culture Cultivate Association of Taichung, Zhongshan Elementary School baseball team made a return visit to Miyazaki Prefecture and were received with warm hospitality; it was agreed to meet up again in December or January every year in Taiwan. The two teams from Miyazaki led by Hoshihara Toru, the president of the Miyakonojo-shi Junior Baseball Association, and the teams from Zhongshan, Shangguan, and Wufeng elementary schools and the Hsinchu community team learned from each other at Zhongshan Elementary School Baseball field. Magistrate Chiu believes the friendly tournament will be of significant benefit in terms of exchange of skills between players, and increasing Taiwan-Japan friendship and exchange the international view of the player will also be widened.
Magistrate Chiu stressed that the county government team promotes county administration following “baseball philosophy,” emphasizing that unity of family, community and country is needed to see improvement and achieve objectives. He said that, in future, the county government will continue to promote baseball and give children an opportunity to take part in various tournaments, using sport to allow Hsinchu County to progress and move towards becoming a happier and healthier place.
Hoshihara Toru, the president of Miyakonojo-shi Junior Baseball Association, who is also the Speaker of the local council, said that the group he has led to Taiwan this year comprises of 21 player and 14 staff. He thanked the teams from Hsinchu County for taking part in this event and providing an opportunity for the young players from Japan and Taiwan to learn from each other, and expressed the hope that Taiwan-Japan basketball exchange continues long into the future.