Today, 18 August is the Memorial Day for High School Baseball in Japan. Apparently, the inaugural national high school baseball tournament started on 18 August 1915 and with a break during the WWII, this year’s tournament is the 100th (第百回/だいひゃっかい).
Baseball has been very popular in Japan and there are 2 national championships every year, one in spring and the other in summer. This year 56 high school teams including a representative team from all 47 prefectures in Japan are competing in the Koshien Stadium (甲子園球場/こうしえんきゅうじょう) in Hyogo Prefecture and almost all games are broadcast nationally on TV. Many of the professional baseball players playing now in and out of Japan got recognised during these national championships. If you are interested in baseball, around this time is the best time for you to be in Japan!
Nowadays, soccer (サッカー) has become more and more popular but baseball (野球/やきゅう) is still very popular in Japan.