By Fumitaka Sato

From July 27 to August 4, The 17th WCBF (World Children Baseball Fair) was held in Sapporo. I participated in it as an interpreter for children. This fair was founded by Sadaharu Oh, who is called "The Home Run King of the World" and Hank Aaron, who has the best home run record in the history of the major leagues. This fair is held annually and this year it celebrated its 17th year. This fair's purpose is not to decide the world champion of children's baseball, but to let those children who have not been exposed to baseball know how fun baseball is. A total of 170 children aged 9 to 12 years old from 16 countries, including baseball coaches, participated in the event.

Oh comes to the opening and closing ceremony every year, but this year he was not able to attend because of illness, so Chuji Murata, who is well known as one of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball history, came to this fair in his place. The main purpose of this fair was to practice baseball and play games in Moerenuma Park in the suburbs of Sapporo in the mornings. After that children visited Sapporo and other surroundings cities and experienced traditional Japanese culture in the afternoon.

Most children had never experienced baseball, so some couldn't throw a ball correctly at all, and others cried because they couldn't hit the ball. Some children ran to third base without stepping on second base. Although they made many mistakes, they encouraged each other, patted each other on the back, and taught each other the rules by every conceivable means even though they couldn't understand each other's languages.

They experienced martial arts, calligraphy and so on in the afternoons. The Japanese drums and Yosakoi Soran Dance were very popular with the children. The drum called Sanjaku Daiko is three-times bigger than normal drums, so it seemed to be remarkable not only for foreign children and staff, but also for Japanese children. At the Yosakoi Soran dance practice, children were presented with a Narukos--a castanet-like instrument often used in the Yosakoi Soran--and danced with La fete, the Sapporo University, Yosakoi Soran team.

During the fair, the children ate meals and took baths together in their hotel. Some enjoyed the stay, but some others wept from homesickness. I could their see various national traits while living with them. For example, most Japanese children gathered together in a group. On the other hand, Nicaraguan children threw kisses to their favorite girls from other countries to win their hearts.

I heard very interesting conversations about the bath. I wondered what foreign children thought about big Japanese baths, so I asked a child from Uganda if he had ever seen such a big bath. He said, "I've never seen such a big and warm pool!" I was surprised that they were not surprised at the size of the bath because they took the bath for swimming pool. It was natural that they mistook the bath for a pool, so they jumped into the bath wearing swimming trunks or briefs, which was a pretty strange sight, while Japanese children took a bath naked.

Japanese children didn't say anything about what the foreign children did, but in the course of time they taught them how to take a bath in Japan using body language. The foreign children were hesitant to go naked at first, but after a few days all of them communicated with each other. They were all friendly and naked in the bath. Owing to the bath, they could form friendships, talk about anything using a few words and body language in the buses, and their teamwork in baseball practice got better.

But beside such heartwarming scenes, a few children spoke ill of the black children. It was a very shocking matter and I got angry, so I really hoped this fair erased such feelings from them even if only a little. I was happy to experience this baseball fair as an interpreter and caretaker and to help many foreign children as a go-between.

My best memory was to see their carefree smiles, and also it was an invaluable experience for me to learn their thoughts and national characteristics, which are hard to know living only in Japan. I am really proud to be a part of the wonderful worldwide fair that was held in Sapporo.