Based on my Japanese column for Daily Sports / トレバーの虎場（デイリースポーツ）はこちら
Life in 2020 has shown us that things will not always go as planned. The spread of COVID-19 has changed everyone’s lives in some way, shape, or form. Baseball is no exception. The Olympics have been postponed, the NPB season has been shortened, and for hundreds of high school boys, the Holy Grail, Spring and Summer Koshien, were cancelled. But all is not lost. Playing at Koshien as a high schooler is not, after all, the only way to get into the stadium. That is the mindset of Sujeewa Wijayanayake, the first-ever non-Japanese umpire in the history of Koshien tournaments. Sujeewa’s story is an interesting one, and an abundance of wisdom, perspective, and thanksgiving permeate his worldview.
Sujeewa was born and raised in Sri Lanka, and upon entering the highest-ranked high school in the nation, Sujeewa said he wanted to try something different. Since everyone else was playing cricket, he opted to join the school’s far less popular baseball club. In his third year of high school, he had an encounter that has changed his life forever. A Japanese man named Ikkyu Ueda came to Sri Lanka as a member of JICA, and taught Sujeewa not only about baseball, but about living life the Japanese way. An enraptured Sujeewa set his mind on making it to Japan to learn more about yamato damashii (Japanese spirit) and in 2006, made that dream come true when he attended Ritsumeikan Asian Pacific University to further his studies..
Curious but not confident that he could play baseball in Japan, Sujeewa quickly realized that joining the university team would require (a) Japanese language skills, and (b) a much higher level of baseball than he played. As a result, he quickly gave up on the idea of continuing as a player. However, that did not stop him from staying connected to the sport. The very next year, he took an umpiring course in Miyazaki, made a lot of connections with big names in the umpire community, and ultimately found himself umpiring youth baseball on weekends. As his skill level and experience increased, he moved up to higher levels. His adventures continued beyond his university years. Even while starting a thriving career as a manager of several hotels in Kyushu, he ensured himself time off to ump (voluntarily) on his off days.
His experiences include the World University Baseball Championship in 2010 at Meiji Jingu Stadium, the Intercity Baseball Tournament (industrial league national tournament) in 2012 at Tokyo Dome, and ultimately, the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (also known as Spring Koshien) in 2015. This did not come about easily, nor was it his own greatness that earned him the spot.
“Each prefecture only gets a chance every several years to send one umpire to the tournament. And the age limit on umpires for that tournament is 50. There were 157 candidates in Fukuoka, some of whom were in their late forties and down to their final chance to be chosen. Despite this, they ‘sac-bunted’ their chance away in order to give me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Koshien. That is true yamato damashii, and I am forever thankful for what they allowed me to do.”
Sujeewa has received a lot from the game of baseball, but he has also given a lot back. Whenever possible, he gathers used equipment from Japanese baseball teams, cleans everything himself, boxes it up and sends it back to his home country. He was also pivotal in having the very first baseball field in all of Western Asia built back in 2012 in Sri Lanka. It is called the Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Baseball Ground. Not only that, but Sujeewa returns to Sri Lanka every year to help grow the game, including hosting a tournament for neighboring nations, holding umpire clinics, and more.
“Some of these countries refuse to speak to one another,” says Sujeewa. “But thanks to baseball, they willingly set foot on the same playing field and compete in a friendly and peaceful manner. That is the power of baseball, and that is a big part of the reason I keep working hard to grow the game not only in Sri Lanka, but also across Western Asia.”
Last spring, Sujeewa moved from Oita to Tokyo, where he was named Deputy Technical Operation Manager for Baseball and Softball on the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee. He is the first Sri Lankan to be named to such a committee, and since his home country will not likely ever host the games, it could be a while before another gets such a role. He continues to express gratitude to Japan for all the opportunities he has been given. Sujeewa aims to keep giving back to this nation, while also blessing his own country and region through baseball.
His message to the boys who missed out on Koshien is this: “Coronavirus is a chance for us to learn. Missing a chance to play at Koshien this year is really unfortunate, but no one is to blame for this. We have to try to see this as an opportunity, rather than a setback. There are many other ways to get into Koshien: as a coach, a manager, a professional player, an umpire, Hanshin Tigers staff, and more. Try to find a vision for yourself, and take action! It is up to you to turn this situation into something wonderful!”
Surely, we can learn something from Sujeewa’s wonderful success story and his determination to share his love for baseball and Japan with the world.