Mountain Trade of Triple Prefecture Won This Day

Sound like gibberish? Thank Google. But at least it's something. The school where I'll work is called "Ujiyamada," which translates to something like "Mountain Trade" (yama means mountain, I know that much). So when Google's Web site translation has its way with the school's home page, this phrase emerges. Meanwhile, "Mie" prefecture often comes back as "triple prefecture" because of translation issues.

But this is beside the point. The point, in short, is victory. Ujiyamada (aka Yamasho) won the prefectural baseball championship to represent Mie in Koshien, the annual national high school tournament. Unlike in the states, the high school tournament is treated as a big deal in Japan, with games being televised non-stop and plenty of attention focused on the ballpark in between Osaka and Kobe.

Says Yamasho's Web site, after a Google translation:

It won this day, the Yokkaichi haze at the inlet ball park in the 89th nationwide high school baseball championship triple conference, decided the Koshien participation. The koshien participation, after 4 years ever since 2003 becomes 3rd participation.

From this I gather that the championship game was played in Yokkaichi, Mie's largest city and an industrial center which has earned the nickname "the big smog." The latter part of the translation I take to mean that Yamasho is going to the tournament for the third time in four years.

In the summer of 2001 I was staying at a friend's house near Kyoto, and despite the ridiculous Kansai heat and humidity, I accepted the family's invitation to go to Koshien stadium for a day to watch a few games of the national tournament. Now, perhaps, I'll get to return and watch some of my students fight for the national title.

This, of course, fresh off watching the OSU Beavers win the NCAA title two years in a row (only once in person). At any rate, this is pretty exciting. The first game of the tournament for Yamasho appears to be Aug. 5, the day I arrive in Tokyo. So if they lose that day I won't be heading for the stadium. If the last beyond Aug. 8, when I arrive in Mie, I'll do what I can to get over there. Go Mountain Trade! Errr ... Yamasho!