Baseball Diplomacy Comes to West Hills : Japanese Youth Teams Visit Valley for Series of Games

Sub sandwiches for lunch.

Chinese or Italian food for dinner.

A Dodger game, an Angel game and a trip to Universal Studios.

Even without clicking their shoes together, members of this traveling baseball squad would understand. They’re not in Tokyo anymore.

Fifty Japanese teenagers are in West Hills this week, attending a summit on the baseball diamond.

They’ve split into two teams and are practicing and scrimmaging with two American teams comprised of regional players.

There’s pitching, hitting, fielding and an exchange of cultures after the dugouts are emptied for the day.

And there’s also pantomiming.

The language barrier isn’t unbearable, thanks to a trio of interpreters and a cheat sheet for American coaches that phonetically spells out Japanese sayings and translates them to English.

A player makes a good catch? Totemo Johzu.

A player makes an incredible catch: Subarashee!

And if a player needs to move faster: Motto hayaku.

Still, the language hurdle exists.

When one of the American players reached first base, he wasn’t told he made a good hit. He was wished good luck.

Good try.

The difference in style is also evident.

The Japanese players bow constantly. They bow to the umpire before they begin their at-bat. They bow to their coach after they take infield practice. They are always bowing, it seems.

They even apologize and tip their hat if they hit a batter.

“It’s not like here, where if you get hit, you stare at the pitcher the whole way down to first,” said Notre Dame High sophomore John Puccinelli. “They’re real polite.”

Winning still counts.

Japanese pitchers throw a barrel of breaking balls, a general no-no among American youths because it can damage the elbow.

Stolen bases and squeeze bunts remain part of the offense even if Japan is winning big.

“They never think any lead is safe,” said Glen Raasch, a host coach. “They stay aggressive until the last out of the game.”

One of their players was yanked in mid-inning because he misjudged a fly ball.

This isn’t just a vacation for the players, who had to excel academically to be invited on the trip.

“They can play catch a little bit,” said Nez Balelo, another host coach and organizer of the event. “They can compete.”

After Wednesday’s daily doubleheader, Japan’s Blue team had a 4-2 record, as did the American ‘A’ team. Japan’s White team was 3-3 and the American ‘B’ team was 1-5. After the last day of competition on Friday, there will be a medal ceremony.

Kenny Nomura manages the White team and accompanies the Japanese players on their nightly field trips.

Nomura lives in Studio City and his 7-year-old son, Danny, receives baseball lessons from Raasch.

Nomura and Raasch decided a few months ago to bring a Japanese team to Los Angeles.

It wasn’t impossible, considering a team of Japanese teenagers visited San Diego and Hawaii in the past eight years.

It also wasn’t difficult, considering Nomura’s connections to Japanese baseball. His father, Katsmuya, played in Japan for 25 years and finished second on the all-time home run list to legendary Sadaharu Oh with 656.

The older Nomura manages the Yakult Swallows, defending Japanese World Series champions.

With a name like Nomura, anything can happen.

And in a city like Los Angeles, anything will happen.

After the first practice session ended Monday, the players walked to the nearest bus stop to catch a ride to the hotel.

Cars drove by, drivers and passengers craned their necks and horns were tapped at the sight of 50 Japanese players in full uniforms.

The players acknowledged each honk with a smile or a wave.

“They’re adjusting pretty good,” Nomura said.

American-style breakfasts receive a thumbs down from the players, but the subs are a favorite. They say the Japanese food here can’t compete, which isn’t as surprising as what they like about Los Angeles.

“Everything here is so big,” Takumi Shibata, 13, said through an interpreter. “The roads, the houses. The scenery is spectacular. I almost prefer it to Tokyo.”

Everything is different, it seems, except the baseball.