Professional baseball player Ginjiro Sumitani remains committed to inspiring seriously ill children, with his project of inviting such children and their families to his home games entering the 10th year.

Sumitani, 36, a catcher for the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Pacific League of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, or NPB, invited 27 people from seven families to the team's home stadium, Belluna Dome in the city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, on May 26. He interacted with those invited, such as taking photographs, before the day's game.

"I want to do this for as long as possible," he said.