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Remarks at the First Pitch Ceremony of the 2011 Hawaii Japan Friendship Baseball Championship 

by C.G. Kamo

August 7, 2011

Good afternoon. Aloha!

I was so excited about this opportunity to make the first pitch for the final game today. It is my pleasure and privilege to be invited to join you here. I would like to thank Mr. Don Takaki for inviting me to the 2011 Championship games and offering me a once in a life time chance to make the first pitch for the final game of the Championship. I have never done this before.

I was so much impressed by the fact that Mr. Takaki has been sponsoring this wonderful baseball exchange between Hawaii and Japan for the past 25 years. Each year Japanese teams will come to Hawaii and his Island Movers Team goes to Japan for having friendship games. This is not a small commitment on the part of Mr. Takaki to run this program for so long so successfully. I am most grateful to him for his passion and leadership on this.                       

As you can imagine, I was so nervous if I could make a good pitch in the ceremony. I was worrying that I was not able to pitch a ball to the catcher without any bounce. So I practiced pitching this afternoon. Then I found that the job was not that easy. While I am speaking to you now, I feel uneasy about my pitching, I should confess. Anyway I should try my best and hope for the best.

Once again, I should like to thank Mr. Takaki for making this happen for many years. I wish both the Japanese and Hawaiian teams the very best and all of you here a very good time. Thank you!