One of Japan's summer traditions is the National High School Baseball Championship tournament held every year at Koshien Stadium.
Readers who do not normally follow Japan-Korea relations may not be aware of it, but something unusual happened this year. At this historic tournament celebrating its centennial, Kyoto International High School, formerly a South Korean-associated school, won the tournament on Aug. 23. After the game, the school’s anthem, sung in Korean, echoed through the stadium.
The reactions to Kyoto International High School's accomplishment, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing. In South Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol posted a Facebook message congratulating the winners, saying that the victory “gave pride and courage to our compatriots in Japan.” Yonhap News reported that “a national school made miraculous history.” After the match, the South Korean Foreign Ministry posted a text message from Minister Cho Tae-yeol congratulating the school on its victory, saying it was a “bridge of friendship between the two countries.”
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