sechan19 | An Afternoon with Japan's First Baseball Player.

This morning's culture class was taught by a Mr. Yagino Koji, a seventy-three-year-old gentleman who was an absolute delight. He gave us a lecture on the history of Japan and its impact on the modern Japanese person, and was funny, earnest, and informative in his session. He amused us with his assertions that the Japanese are neither hard-working nor polite (his reasoning being that the introduction of democracy had led many Japanese to take an every man for himself attitude founded on the notion of perfect equality!), and he led us on a lovely walk through the East Imperial Castle Gardens and Ginza.

Mr. Yagino was eleven when the Second World War ended and has vivid memories of the American soldiers. Listening to him speak about his experiences was extremely heartwarming. He spoke very highly of the occupying forces, noting that the soldiers were always kind to the people - especially children, giving them candy and teaching them baseball. It was nice to have this perspective; it's hard to remember sometimes that we Americans don't always screw up and good to be reminded of that fact.

Mr. Yagino had been sent away from home to avoid the air strikes, and when he came home after the war ended the American soldiers began teaching the children how to play baseball. This apparently made the children very happy, as before the war they'd had to do tasks like memorization of all of Japan's 120+ emperors and much preferred playing baseball. Mr. Yagino reports that he was chosen by an American captain to play first base because he was the tallest in his class. The officer stood him in front the base and lobbed the ball, but Mr. Yagino didn't know what to do with it and it hit him in the chest! The officer then showed him how to catch and throw - making him, he claimed, Japan's first baseball player.

Mr. Yagino was full of fascinating information about Japanese life and custom, and I don't think I could cover it all, but I do want to report that - thanks to him - I finally found out why the Japanese always do the peace sign in photographs. Apparently, back in the 1970s, Sammy Davis Jr. did an ad for Suntory Whiskey. (Yes, Suntory Whiskey as in "For a relaxing time; make it Suntory Time.") In that ad, Davis Jr. flashed the peace sign while a tagline for the whiskey advertised the peace and harmony experienced while imbibing the immortal liquor. The Japanese have supposedly been flashing the peace sign ever since.