Make no bones about it. Japan more than plans to make it to the second round of the World Baseball Classic.
Ichiro Suzuki (second from right) of the Seattle Mariners joins hands with Japan's World Baseball Classic team manager Sadaharu Oh (second from left), Motonobu Tanishige (left) and Daisuke Matsuzaka at a news conference in Tokyo.
Just moving on isn't enough for the team that has a Group A championship on its wish list. Japan will open against China on Friday before meeting Taiwan on Saturday and closing with the eagerly awaited showdown against fellow Group A power Korea.