侍JAPAN

Japan’s national 野球 (baseball) team is called 「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“).

The World Baseball Classic (WBC) series began in 2006. There have been only two WBC series so far…the one in 2006, and the second one went from March 5, 2009 and ended today.
(Click here to read my earlier post about the World Baseball Classic (WBC)).

The champions of the WBC 2006 series was 「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“)…and Japan defended their title today.

"Ichiro" Suzuki of the 「侍JAPAN」 ("Samurai Japan") team.

On March 21st, the semi-finals of the WBC ’09 began with four teams:
Japan, Korea, USA and Venezuela.
On March 21, Korea played Venezuela and won with a score of 10-2…eliminating Venezuela.
On March 22, Japan played the USA and won with a score of 9-4…eliminating America (USA).

The final game of the WBC 2009 today was Japan vs Korea…and Japan won with a final score of 5-3.
At the end of the ninth inning, Korea scored a point which brought the score up to 3-3…so the game went into “extra innings”. In the tenth inning, Japan got two more points to win the series!

「侍JAPAN」 (“Samurai Japan“) are the world baseball champion team.

(Did you watch any of the games?)