Today's Notables

I hardly ever watch baseball, however, because of all the hoopla surrounding the World Baseball Classic which happened to fall on a holiday, I had no choice but to sit down and watch it. The news on the following day said that highest viewing audience rate was 56% at the highest point with an average of 43.4% (in Kanto). I was surprised to see such interest in the WBC among Japanese people. Perhaps some of the disappointment from coming home with only one gold medal from the Torino Olympics helped fuel hopes for victory in the WBC.

I wanted to watch the WBC for a different reason, though. Last December, I was invited to the wedding reception of major leaguer from Korea, Puk Chon Ho. Mentioning this to other people has brought cries of how he almost caused Japan not to make the playoffs. But, please, read on.....

In December of last year, I was invited to the reception by the woman who married Puk Chon Ho and whom I have known through my work as chair of the alumni group from the Culinary Institute of America in New York and other areas in the food business. I happened to be visiting the school on the day that she graduated and came to know her. After that, her aunt, who works as a researcher in the food business, acted as an escort during a gourmet tour to Korea. She and I took care of instructors from CIA who were visiting Japan. Right after graduating from university in Japan, she went directly to the CIA. Not only does she have a command of five languages-English, Korean, Italian, French and Japanese, 5 months experience at a 2 star French restaurant as an intern during school and 6 months work at a nationally known organic restaurant in California after graduation, the food she prepares is superior. She is what I consider a true professional chef.

Since she was marrying the number one most popular bachelor in Korea, I don't have to say much about her looks. She stands over 170cm. A coworker friend often tells me that she has it too good and it's not fair. This is not the reason that I brought up the discussion about WBC, however. Mr. Otsuka (also a major leaguer) and his wife sat at the same table right across from me and since I got to know these players on a more personal level, I had no choice but to watch the game.

But getting back to the game, because of a third-rate umpire's bad call that caused them to lose to the American team, Korea came alive with the spirit of action as the players exploded with force. The Korean press raised a fuss about the ruling because there was only a 0.011 point loss with the American team that allowed them to advance to the playoffs. According to an American newspaper, each of the American players have superior individual skill but without adequate practice, their teamwork was lacking. The Japanese team showed superb teamwork which is much more fitting of a world-class baseball team. I arrived at a similar conclusion: Victory in sports and in business comes down to ambition, teamwork and leadership.