Pro and amateur baseball organizations met on Friday to discuss specifics about the training courses pro players will need to take in order to earn licenses that will allow them to coach at the amateur level.

Some take-aways taken from various articles:

• The pro side would like to see the courses opened up to about 1,000 candidates in the first year.  The amateur side wants to start with anywhere between 70 to 100.
• The training course will be organized by both pro and amateur organizations.
• The first training course could be held in November at two locations: Tokyo and Osaka (500 openings each).  The course will be offered over a three day period in five-hour segments each day.  For all intents and purposes, everyone that takes the course will pass.
• There will be some sort of a test, or multiple kinds of tests (written/aptitude).
• After candidates have taken courses held by both pro and amateur organizations, they will take a three-day training program in February.  Candidates that have taken all the courses will be listed on the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association website.
• Deliberations will continue into May.  The biggest problem right now is the number of candidates to allow.

Source: jiji press 4/26/2013, Sponichi 4/26/2013, Sports Hochi 4/27/2013, Sponichi 4/27/2013, Daily Sports 4/27/2013

Former Chunichi Dragon Shigeki Noguchi (38) will be taking over as the new manager of the JABA club team NPO Rookies.  Noguchi was hired on as a coach for the team last year.  He will also be registered as a player with JABA.

Source: Sponichi 3/27/2013

The Yokohama Bay Stars, the Kanagawa Baseball Association, and the Kanagawa University Baseball League announced today that the 2013 Kanagawa Prefecture Baseball Tournament is scheduled to take place at Yokosuke Stadium on August 20 and 21.  This will be the first time all three groups will be competing in one tournament.  Admission will be free.

The following six teams will participate:

• Ni-gun Yokohama Bay Stars
• Three Industrial League teams: JX-ENEOS, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Juko Yokohama
• Top two university teams from the KUBL spring league

Schedule

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Source: Nikkan Sports 3/25/2013, official announcement (Yokohama Bay Stars)

The Japan High School Baseball Federation (JHBF) decided to issue Aomori Yamada High School a stern warning over an incident that led to the death of a high school baseball player in December 2011.  The federation originally planned to hold off on setting a punishment until additional details about the player's death became available.  The most recent update from the high school (dated January 15) did not shed enough light on the cause of death.  As such, the federation decided to handle the incident as violence within the team environment.  They are willing to revisit the punishment when/if new information becomes available.

Source: Sponichi 2/21/2013

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Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) held a meeting in Tokyo today and consented to the switch to koeki zaidan hojin (Public Interest Incorporated Foundation) on March 1.  They have already obtained approval from the Cabinet Office.

At a separate meeting:

• Norio Ichino was reappointed chairman (two-year term).
• A compliance committee will be established on March 1.  They will deal with cases involve things like gambling and abuse.
• An assistance service for players will also be created.
• A report on sending the Inter-city Tournament champion to the World Baseball Challenge tournament in Canada in August was given.

Source: Sponichi 2/20/2013, Sponichi 2/21/2013

The Zen Nihon Amateur Yakyu Renmei (Baseball Federation of Japan) held a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday and formally decided to switch their name to Zen Nihon Yakyu Kyokai (not sure how the English name will change) when their status changes to ippan zaidan hojin status (general incorporated foundation) on April 1.

The Japan Rubber Baseball Association (全日本軟式野球連盟) is also set to become a part of their network.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/6/2013

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The Japan Amateur Baseball Rules and Regulations Committee met on Wednesday and agreed to introduce a licensing system for umpires.  Planning and preparation will require two years.  The new system will come into effect on January 1, 2015.

There will be four levels to the license: S-kyu, 1-kyu, 2-kyu, and 3-kyu.  Umpires with an 1-kyu or above license will be able to work major domestic tournaments, like the Inter-city Tournament and the All Japan University Championship.

The licenses will not apply to the Koshien tournaments.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/6/2013

UPDATE @ 5:23pm - A little more on the levels.  Umpires will be able to earn the basic 3-kyu license by taking a training course.  After that they will have to take tests and wait at least three years in between each new level.

Source: Sponichi 2/6/2013

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The Japan High School Baseball Federation sent two notices out to all federation members on Wednesday.

1. all participating members should take any necessary steps to eradicate physical punishment (by coaches and players) and bullying
2. all participating members must create an itemized list of expenses when accepting reimbursement money from caregivers.  The list should contain expenses incurred when coaches travel with players on trips to places like potential job sites or universities (places the player might go to after they graduate).

Source: Sponichi 2/6/2013

The NPB and JPBPA have been pushing to make it easier for former players to become coaches/managers at the high school level.  Last week, the Japan High School Baseball Federation (JHBF) finally decided to make changes to their qualifications and will no longer require former players to teach at the junior high or high school level for two years.  Instead, all they will have to do is take a training program to earn a license.

The training program will be made up of two main courses: professional and amateur.

Each NPB team will be allowed to select around five former players for the program.  They will be required to take the professional course (one to two days) in order to qualify for the amateur course.

The amateur course will be made up for eight parts, each requiring about an hour.  The eight-hour course will likely be split over a three-day period.

Under the current proposal, about sixty former players will be able to earn a coaching/managing license that will be valid at both high school and university levels.  The entire program will require about five days.

A little history...

The Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) relaxed their qualification rules in 2002 by allowing former players to become managers/coaches after filing for approval.  The All Japan University Baseball Federation (JUBF) eased up on their rules in 2005 by granting former players the option to manage/coach two years after retirement.

It should be noted that relations between amateur and professional organizations soured in 1961 when the Chunichi Dragons signed Fukuzo Yanagawa (Industrial League, mid-season) and Nobuyuki Kadooka (high school, before he filed papers to leave high school).

Source: Sponichi 1/17/2013, Sponichi 1/17/2013, Sponichi 1/18/2013, Sponichi 1/18/2013, Nikkan Sports 1/18/2013, Nikkan Sports 1/19/2013, Daily Sports 1/18/2013, Sanspo 1/18/2013, Sanspo 1/18/2013

JR Nishi Nihon submitted a notice to the Hiroshima Baseball Federation that they will resume workouts this year.  The company had suspended all baseball operations in July 2005 after a train accident occurred in Amagasaki, Hyogo on April 25, 2005.

Source: Sanspo 1/17/2013

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UPDATE 8:42pm - Teruo Hanamoto (花本輝雄 sp?) is expected to resume his duties as manager of the team.  The team will be comprised of about a dozen recent graduates.  Source: Daily Sports 1/17/2013

UPDATE 2/1 @ 12:26am - The JABA announced that they approved JR Nishi Nihon's decision to resume baseball activities this year.

The JABA also approved applications for Chikumagawa Baseball Club (Nagano) and Osaka HD Baseball Club.

Source: Sanspo 1/31/2013

Katsuji Kawashima (69) is planning to step down as vice chairman of the Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) during officer re-elections in February 2013.  He is also planning to retire as general supervisor (総監督) of the Toyota baseball team (Industrial League), effective January 1, 2013.

"I have spent a long time completely absorbed in baseball," said Kawashima.  "I think it is about time I graduated from that."

Kawashima graduated Chuo University and spent his career playing for Nippon Gakki (now Yamaha).  He was selected by Kintetsu in the 2nd round of the 1968 draft, but turned them down.  He also managed Nippon Gakki/Yamaha and guided the team to Inter-city tournament championships in 1972, 1987, and 1990.  Kawashima was a coach during the 1988 Seoul Olympics and managed the 1996 Japan National Team in Atlanta.

Source: Nikkan Sports 12/22/2012

The Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) posted their list of 2013 tournaments today.  Of interest:

• Inter-City Baseball Tournament - July 12 (twelve days)
• All Japan Club Team Tournament - September 6 (four days)

Dates for the Industrial League Championship have yet to be determined.  Discussions with the NPB and the Orix Buffaloes are ongoing (Kyocera Dome scheduling issues).

Source: official JABA 2013 tournament schedule, Nikkan Sports 12/20/2012

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UPDATE 1/21 @ 9:35pm - The Industrial League Championship will take place at Kyocera Dome between October 28 and November 7.  Dates are subject to change, depending on the Buffaloes' schedule.  Source: Nikkan Sports 1/21/2013

The Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) met on Wednesday and decided to issue a four month game suspension to Oki Data Computer Kyoiku Gakuen baseball team for the death of a player.  The suspension is back-dated to August 31.

August 29, an eighteen-year-old Oki Data player drowned in a river and was declared dead at the hospital.  A twenty-one-year-old Oki Data player allegedly threatened to beat the younger player if he did not jump off a bridge into the river about five meters below.

Source: Nikkan Sports 12/12/2012, Mainichi Shimbun 12/12/2012