A Korean-founded high school in Japan has made history by winning a prestigious national baseball tournament for the first time. Kyoto International High School defeated Tokyo’s Kanto Daiichi High School 2-1 in a dramatic extra 10-inning final at Japan’s national high school baseball championship, known as the Summer Koshien, held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Aug. 23.
The game was scoreless until the ninth inning, but Kyoto International scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning during a tiebreaker. This rule, introduced at Koshien in 2018, starts the inning with runners on first and second base. Despite conceding one run in the bottom of the 10th, Kyoto International secured the win when their left-handed ace, 17-year-old Ikki Nishimura, struck out the final batter with two outs and the bases loaded.
Kyoto International High School, located in Higashiyama, Kyoto, traces its roots back to Kyoto Chosen Junior High School, a Korean ethnic school established in 1947 by Korean expatriates. In the 1990s, facing financial difficulties and a sharp decline in student numbers, the school decided to transition to a Japanese institution with the support of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mindan (Korean Residents Union in Japan). It received approval from the Japanese government in 2003 and began admitting Japanese students the following year, changing its name to Kyoto International Junior and Senior High School. Currently, about 70% of its 159 students are Japanese. The Japanese government provides approximately 130 million yen (about 1.2 billion won) annually, covering around 30% of the operating costs, while the South Korean government contributes about 1.6 billion won (40%), with the remainder funded by tuition fees and donations.
The baseball team was established to attract Japanese students. Since its founding in 1999, most male students have enrolled specifically to join the team. The current Koshien team is also entirely Japanese. Many female students were influenced by the first wave of the Korean Wave, sparked by dramas like “Winter Sonata,” and more recently by admiration for Korean pop culture, including K-pop.
Kyoto International High School’s baseball team initially struggled, suffering a 0-34 defeat in their first game against a local school in 1999 with only one pitcher available. Principal Baek Seung-hwan noted, “The team’s first win came four years after its founding, in 2003.” Since 2021, the team has competed in the Koshien tournament, surpassing over 70 schools in Kyoto, and has produced rookie players for the professional leagues for five consecutive years as of last year. Now, the team has achieved the remarkable feat of winning the Koshien championship. This victory marks the first Summer Koshien title for a high school in Kyoto in 68 years, since Heian High School in 1956.
This article was originally published on Aug. 24, 2024.
