High school baseball clubs in Japan see decline of sport's reign

- Reinstatement to the Olympic Games a Must for Baseball/Softball -

In a survey conducted by the Japan High School Baseball Federation, over 40 percent of high school baseball clubs said that the sport will lose -- or already has lost -- popularity to other athletic pursuits.
The federation carries out the survey once every five years. Of 4,032 high school baseball clubs across the country that are registered as federation members, 1,688 schools -- or 41.9 percent -- said it is possible that other sports such as soccer and basketball will be more popular than baseball in the future, or that they in fact already are. This figure represents a drastic increase from 1,074 (26.5 percent) five years ago.
Nonfiction writer Kazuo Sayama said that although the decline of baseball's reign was due in part to being booted out of the Olympics, the survey result was "expected" since schools have begun introducing other sports.

(Read the full story in The Mainichi of June 21, 2013)