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JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK | Summer Koshien: Okinawa Shogaku Prevails in Title Game
Okinawa Shogaku became the second school from Japan's southernmost prefecture to win the Summer Koshien. Konan first accomplished the feat in 2010.
Okinawa Shogaku High School defeated Tokyo's Nihon University Third High School 3-1 in the championship game of the 107th Summer Koshien tournament on Saturday, August 23 in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
It was the first Summer Koshien title for Okinawa Shogaku.
Catcher Eimu Ginoza, a third-year student, drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and added a run-scoring double in the eighth for the Naha-based school.
"Being able to come through in those situations makes me the most happy," Ginoza said after the game, according to The Japan News.
A pair of second-year pitchers, starter Yuito Arakaki and left-hander Ryosuke Sueyoshi, held their Tokyo opponent in check.
Arakaki only allowed one run in the first inning. He pitched 7⅔ innings, scattering six hits, walking one and striking out four. Sueyoshi preserved the lead as Okinawa Shogaku held on to win the Summer Koshien.
Winning manager Koya Higa was impressed with Arakaki's performance in the championship game.
"Up to now, he's the pitcher who has been throwing the best," Higa was quoted as saying by The Japan News. "I had planned to use him for five innings, but he did a great job of getting through to two outs in the eighth inning."
A Packed House for the Summer Koshien Final
An announced crowd of 45,600 attended the championship game at Koshien Stadium, which also serves as the home of NPB's Hanshin Tigers, in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.
The tournament, officially known as the National High School Baseball Championship, was first held in 1915.
In 2010, Konan High School became the first Okinawan school to win the Summer Koshien.
The Road to the Summer Koshien Title
Okinawa Shogaku, which won the Spring Koshien, aka the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, in 1999 and 2008, advanced to Saturday's final with a 5-4 win over Yamanashi Gakuin on Thursday.
Taito Higa had the big hit in the semifinal showdown, rapping a two-out single to break a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning. Ginoza's triple preceded Higa's clutch at-bat.
Earlier in the game, Okinawa Shogaku overcame a 4-1 deficit to even the score.
Qualifying for the 107th Summer Koshien featured 3,396 high schools participating in regional tournaments. After that, the two-week, single-elimination tourney had 49 teams representing Japan's 47 prefectures (one apiece, except Tokyo and Hokkaido with two each). It started on August 5.
In the quarterfinals, Okinawa Shogaku defeated Toyo University Himeji 2-1 on August 19. Two days earlier, manager Higa's club outlasted Sendai Ikuei, winning 5-3 in 11 innings.
Okinawa Shogaku also recorded a 3-0 shutout victory over Tokushima Naruto on August 14.
In its first game of the Summer Koshien on August 6, Okinawa Shogaku topped Akita's Kanaashi Nogyo 1-0.
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- BASEBALL | Chiben Wakayama Scores Early En Route to Winning National High School Title
Marines' Yamaguchi Homers in 4 Straight At-Bats to Match PL Record
Chiba Lotte Mariners outfielder/designated hitter Koki Yamaguchi belted home runs in three consecutive at-bats in a 12-10 victory over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Thursday, August 21.
Yamaguchi also homered in his final plate appearance against the Eagles on Wednesday. He tied a Pacific League record with homers in four straight at-bats.
In the Thursday game, Yamaguchi hit a two-run blast in the first inning and added a pair of round-trippers (a two run shot and a three-run clout) in the fourth, when the Marines erupted for nine runs. He struck out in the seventh to end the streak.
Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami homered in five consecutive at-bats in 2022 to set the NPB record.
During the 2025 NPB season, Yamaguchi has seven homers in 16 games.
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Volleyball
Japan Women Sweep Cameroon in World Championship Opener
Outside hitter Miku Akimoto had a team-high 18 points, including 14 on attack, in Japan's 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-17, 25-19) over Pool H opponent Cameroon in the preliminary phase of the 2025 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship. The match was held in Bangkok on Saturday night, August 23.
Japan captain Mayu Ishikawa chipped in with 11 points in the team's opening match of the tourney and outside hitter Ayane Kitamodo had 10, registering all her points on kills. Setter Nanami Seki had a team-high four serve points.
"We started off stiffly and didn't play very well, but we were able to recover," Ishikawa said after the match, according to NHK. "Today's match was a tough one, so we want to focus on what we need to do in the next match."
World No 5 Japan meets 16th-ranked Ukraine on Monday, August 25 in the Thai capital.
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Swimming
Hirai Recalls an Influential Experience in His Storied Coaching Career
Longtime swimming coach Norimasa Hirai's rise to prominence was linked to breaststroke specialist Kosuke Kitajima's success.
Hirai's famed pupil won the men's 100- and 200-meter breaststroke gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and then did it again at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Looking back on his career, Hirai recognizes that Yoji Suzuki had a positive impact on his approach to coaching.
"During the 2001 [FINA] World Championships in Fukuoka, where I was coaching Kosuke Kitajima, I had the opportunity to share a room with Yoji Suzuki, who had nurtured Olympic gold medalist Daichi Suzuki," Hirai recalled in a recent interview with The Sankei Shimbun. "This experience allowed me to learn the mindset required of a coach to bring out the best in athletes and approach the competition with composure."
Daichi Suzuki won the men's 100-meter backstroke final at the 1988 Seoul Games.
Now, more than two decades after Kitajima became one of Japan's most famous athletes, Hirai sees parallels in how he worked with Kitajima and how he's helped develop rising star Mio Narita, who is 18.
Narita and Australia's Jenna Forrester both received silver medals after tying for second (4 minutes, 33.36 seconds) in the women's 400-meter individual medley final at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on August 3 in Singapore.
Hirai began coaching Narita before the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
"At the time, she was only 16 years old and was unable to perform as she had hoped on the senior stage," Hirai told The Sankei Shimbun.
Developing Swimmers and Coaches
Hirai witnessed Narita's dedication to training pay off in Singapore.
"In this tournament, she broke her personal best by more than two seconds in the women's 400-meter individual medley final and won a silver medal, demonstrating her growth," Hirai said in the interview. "Considering her progress over the past two years, I feel that it is important not to be fixated on immediate results, but to wait patiently for her to grow."
Hirai, 62, also spoke about his commitment to helping improve the coaching landscape for swimming in Japan.
"In the current Japanese swimming world, I am the only coach who has stood at the top of the world and has been in the top coaching position for a long time," Hirai told the national newspaper. "I believe that nurturing young coaches is also my role."
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Soccer
J.League Title Chase Heats Up
Only three points separate the top six teams in the J.League after the completion of play on Saturday, August 23.
Leading the pack are the Kashima Antlers (16-3-8, 51 points), followed by FC Machida Zelvia (15-5-8), Kashiwa Reysol (14-8-5) and Vissel Kobe (15-5-8), all of whom have 50 points. Sanfrecce Hiroshima (15-4-9, 49 points) and Kyoto Sanga (14-6-6, 48 points) are also among the top teams in the 2025 season.
In a noteworthy victory on Friday, Reysol rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit and defeated the Urawa Reds 4-2 at Sankyo Frontier Stadium in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. Midfielder Yudai Konishi scored the go-ahead goal in the 90th minute.
"This comeback victory will go down in the history of this club and will remain a memorable match for many who watched it today at the stadium and on television," Reysol manager Ricardo Rodriguez told reporters.
Rodriguez said his team "made some adjustments and approached the second half with a renewed mindset."
The Spaniard also noted that positive energy helped ignite the comeback.
"Despite the nervousness, the team encouraged each other with phrases like, 'We can come back. Let's believe in ourselves and attack aggressively; we can definitely score three goals,' " Rodriguez said. "And [we] continued to play calmly while maintaining the belief."
FC Tokyo and visiting Kyoto play in the lone game on Sunday's docket. Kickoff is at 7 PM at Ajinomoto Stadium.
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Quotes of the Week
"He also finds a way ... for me to throw far. And every competition he stands behind me, supporting me. It's great mental aid."
―Haruka Kitaguchi, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the women's javelin, describing her coach Dave Skerak's impact. Agence France-Press interviewed Kitaguchi in Domazlice, Czech Republic, where she resides and trains.
"This third tour of Japan confirms the quality of our collaboration with the Japan Handball Association and Zeekstar Tokyo. We would like to thank them for their warm welcome and the seamless organizing of these two preparatory matches, which were an important step in our collective preseason work. Every year, we see the enthusiasm for handball grow in Japan, and we are proud to contribute to it."
―Thierry Omeyer, general manager of the Paris Saint-Germain handball team, reflecting on the squad's preseason trip to Japan. It included exhibition matches on August 19 and 20 at Yoyogi National Stadium against Zeekstar Tokyo, with PSG winning 36-35 and 30-23.
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.