University Suspensions

Komazawa (Shizuoka) manager - traffic violation, delay in reporting incident - two years beginning on 12/5

Komazawa (Shizuoka) director - delay in reporting incident - six months beginning on 12/5

Game Suspensions

Kosei Gakuin Noheji Nishi (Aomori) - smoking - one month beginning on 12/5

Gamagori (Aichi) - smoking - one month, beginning on 12/17

Osaki Chuo (Miyagi) - drinking, smoking, violence within the club - six months beginning on 12/2

Zao (Miyagi) - violence within the club - one month beginning on 1/18

Suspensions

Umpire (Ehime) - larceny, tresspassing - one year beginning on 12/1

Gotsu Kogyo (Shimane) manager - violence within the club - one month beginning on 12/12

Morioka Daigaku Fuzuko (Iwate) director - violence within the club - one month beginning on 12/15

Rissho Daigaku Shonan (Shimane) coach - violence within the club - one month beginning on 12/15

Sakuyo (Okayama) director - violence within the club - one month beginning on 12/28

Umpire (Shiga) - purchasing a train ticket illegally - one year beginning on 1/5

Shiogama (Miyagi) manager - violence within the club - one month beginning on 1/25

As manager of KomazawaDai Tomakomai, Koda got to the Spring Koshien twice and Summer Koshien six times.  He also managed Masahiro Tanaka (RAK).  Koda left KomazawaDai Tomakomai in 2008 and became a member of the Tsurumi University coaching staff in the same year.

Board of directors meeting (Sports Hochi):

• decided to donate 6M yen to the Women's Baseball Association Japan as money to be used to help strengthen the team.
• accepted DeNA's pledge as new owners of the Yokohama Bay Stars.

Executive committee meeting (Sports Hochi):

• decided to extend the three and a half hour rule to the 2012 season in order to continue conserving energy.
• finalized the roster for the March 10 charity game (results will be announced on January 26).

Pacific League meeting (Sports Hochi):

• removed suspended games from the league agreement
• confirmed an informal owner's meeting on January 27

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The Japan Student Baseball Association held a meeting on Wednesday and named Masayuki Naito (Secretary General, JSBA & JUBF), Akira Nambara (JUBF Vice President & JSBA Director), Masao Yamaguchi (Secretary General, JHBF), and Hirotaka Nishioka (JHBF council member) to the group that will be handling discussions on requirements for becoming a student baseball coach.

The first meeting of the group could take place some time in February.

Two session were held: a two-hour session in the morning and a two-hour session in the afternoon.  A total 459 players from 47 Miyazaki high schools attended.

Players that participated:

From the Yomiuri Giants - Michihiro Ogasawara, Kazunari Sanematsu, Yoshiyuki Kamei, Daijiro Tanaka, Tetsuya Matsumoto, Itaru Hashimoto, and Ryuichi Kajimae.

From the Softbank Hawks - Yuki Kume, Sho Iwasaki, Sho Arima, and Kentaro Inomoto

UPDATE 1/22 @ 8:05pm - The hands on symposiums will continue after the season and expand even further next year.

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Japan Baseball's coaching committee is hosting a three-day seminar on coaching at Makuhari Messe in Chiba (January 20 - January 22).  About 300 coaches (from youth leagues to industrial leagues) attended the first day the seminar; Kimiyasu Kudo was also guest speaker.

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Umpire Masato Tomoyose left the US to return to Japan on Thursday (US time).  Tomoyose was in Arizona attending the MLB Umpire Meetings over a three day period.

A list of the introduction songs from the last ten tournaments (via Nikkan Sports):

2002 「明日があるさ」（坂本九、ウルフルズ、Ｒｅ：Ｊａｐａｎ）

2003 「大きな古時計」（平井堅）

2004 「世界に一つだけの花」（ＳＭＡＰ）

2005 「君こそスターだ」（サザンオールスターズ）

2006 「青春アミーゴ」（修二と彰）

2007 「宙船（そらふね）」（ＴＯＫＩＯ）

2008 「蕾（つぼみ）」（コブクロ）

2009 「キセキ」（ＧＲｅｅｅｅＮ）

2010 「Ｍｙ　Ｂｅｓｔ　Ｏｆ　Ｍｙ　Ｌｉｆｅ」（Ｓｕｐｅｒｆｌｙ）

2011 「ありがとう」（いきものがかり）

UPDATE @ 7:41pm - The committee also approved the list of 123 high school candidates and nine 21st Century candidates.  A final list of schools will be decided during a selection committee meeting on 1/27.

UPDATE @ 9:42pm - Some other things that were decided:

• The slogan will remain the same as last year: Gambaro! Nippon (がんばろう！日本).  A banner with the same phrase, currently on display at the Ishinomaki City offices, will be used during opening ceremonies.
• Elementary/Junior High School kids from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima will throw out ceremonial first pitches on 3/24.
• Donations for children that lost parents to the earthquake will be collected during the tournament.
• Messages written to earthquake survivors by captains from each of the participating schools will also be put up on display.

UPDATE @ 10:57am - Daily Sports is reporting that AKB48 could be invited to the opening ceremonies.

The JUBF also announced that they will be selecting players from universities in the Kanto region, in addition to a number of players from the Tohoku region, for the team that will be playing a charity game against a mixed Industrial League team on 3/10 at Tokyo Dome.  The rosters will be released on 1/26.  Koji Kanemitsu (Hosei University manager) will manage the team.

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The Japan High School Baseball Federation (JHBF) announced today that they reviewed high schools that plan to offer baseball scholarships this year and confirmed that 451 schools had programs that were suitable.  There were 457 schools that offered baseball scholarships last year.

News schools: 26
Schools that stopped: 12
Schools that were over the limit (five or less per grade): 20

If the schools that went over the limit make the necessary adjustments, there will be a total 471 schools that plan to offer scholarships this year.

UPDATE 1/18 @ 2:54pm - The JHBF released the following corrections today:

New schools: 25
Schools that stopped: 11

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In the case involving the death of a high school baseball player at Aomori Yamada High School, the media learned today that Aomori Police filed assault charges against a second year student from the same school.

According to the charges, the second year student allegedly struck two first year high school students on the night of December 18, 2011 and caused one of them to die at around 1:00am on December 19, 2011.

See also:

Aomori Yamada High School withdraws as candidate for Summer Koshien

First year Aomori Yamada baseball player dies after being hit by second year student

The JHBF also decided to allow professional players the option to practice at high schools other than their alma maters, provided they submit the appropriate paperwork.

Both changes will be made official during a Japan Student Baseball Association trustees meeting in February.

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The JHBF held a special national meeting in Osaka on Thursday, reminding all high schools to refrain from holding baseball skill tests during high school entrance exams, as outlined in charter, beginning in 2013.  The JHBF will send out additional notices in February to the various regional federations.  An update will also be filed with the Board of Education.

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The City of Wakayama announced that they will recognize/honor the late Yukio Nishimoto as a pioneer in the field of baseball.

Nishimoto is a native of Wakayama and made a name for himself as manager of the Hankyu Braves (1963-1973; five first place finishes) and Kinetsu Buffaloes (1974-1981; two first place finishes).  He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988.

Wakayama has honored one other baseball player in the past: Seiichi Shima for his performance during the 1939 Summer Koshien -- he tossed five straight shutouts, including two straight no hitters during the semi-finals and finals.

The music was also used for the movie Moshi Koko Yakyu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" wo yondara (What if a female manager of a high school baseball team read Ducker's "Management").  The single also went on sale last year (5/25) and sold 1.33M copies.

Players have been getting souvenirs for making it to the Koshien Tournaments since 1960.  But souvenirs were not handed out at three Koshien Tournaments in 1995 and 1996 because of the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.

2,077 players and coaches from 93 high schools will be presented with various souvenirs.  Only about 100 players and coaches from 5 Hyogo high schools are expected to attend the ceremonies on 2/25; the rest of the souvenirs will be mailed out.