Hideki Matsui also makes an appearance! Video of "Tanzania Koshien" released
Cameroon and Zambia also sign agreements to aim for hosting Koshien tournaments
Ambassador to visit Jingu Stadium on May 19th to inspect the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League

The Japan African Baseball and Softball Promotion Foundation (J-ABS) held signing ceremonies for the "Baseballership® Education Partnership Agreement" with the Cameroon Baseball and Softball Federation in Central Africa and the Zambia Baseball and Softball Federation in Southern Africa on April 25th in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, and on May 3rd in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Moving forward, the two organizations will work together to develop human resources and conduct educational activities with the aim of hosting a Koshien-style baseball tournament in each country.

Both countries' embassies in Tokyo have expressed their full support for this matter, and the ambassadors are scheduled to attend a Tokyo Big6 Baseball League game between Keio University and Meiji University on Sunday, May 19th (expected to start at 13:00) in order to deepen their understanding of Japanese baseball by watching a game live.

We are happy to accommodate media inquiries on the day of the event. If you are interested, please contact us at the address below. We will contact you again with further details regarding the event.

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This agreement is being made as part of J-ABS's flagship project, the "Africa 55 Koshien Project." This project aims to foster human development and promote the sport through baseball in 54 African countries and one region, with the ultimate goal of hosting a Koshien tournament (national championship). Tanzania, which is leading the project, has already held the "Koshien Championship" every December, with 11 successful events. The countries aiming to host the tournament will be Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Sudan, Benin, and now Cameroon and Zambia, bringing the total to seven countries. Ghana is scheduled to host the tournament for the first time this August.

Prior to signing the agreement with J-ABS, baseball officials from Cameroon and Zambia watched a 13-minute 54-second video featuring footage from the 11th Tanzania Koshien Tournament held in December 2023, as well as interviews with people from Africa, deepening their understanding of J-ABS's approach to baseball education.

Hideki Matsui (J-ABS Executive Dream Partner) also gave us the following feedback after watching the video.

"Having played baseball in Major League Baseball, I truly appreciated the wonderful spirit I learned in Japanese baseball. I can see how J-ABS is approaching things in Africa."

"I believe Japanese baseball culture is the best in the world. This video shows our efforts to convey the best aspects of Japanese baseball to Africa, not just to win, so I hope many people will watch it. It makes me want to visit Africa myself."

The video also includes scenes such as Hideki Matsui's message being read aloud at the opening ceremony (9'09~) and him sending a message to the children in Swahili at the boys' and girls' baseball tournament held after the main event (8'16~).

You can watch the video on the "J-ABS Channel" on YouTube. The video link is here.