Japan's annual rite of summer: Koshien baseball tournament

TOKYO — The hugely beloved Koshien summer high school championship tournament is once again upon us (start date Aug. 6) and it is time for my annual column on the subject.

Foreign visitors, especially Americans, invariably ask why it is so popular — on nationwide TV from morning till night — because they have never seen such phenomena. But, increasingly, I find even Japanese asking the same question because they don’t know their own history.

So let’s review.

Baseball started in the United States in the mid-19th century as a so-called “Town Sport,” a Sunday amusement for gentlemen of leisure. It developed into a popular professional sport when the first all-pro team formed in Cincinnati. The National League was established in 1876 and the American League created in 1901. The first World Series in 1903 played to overflow crowds.