Cardinals player Lars Nootvar, born to an American father and a Japanese mother, was selected as the first Japanese player to represent Japan in the WBC.

Her mother, Kumiko Nutvar, who lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California, and her father, Charlie, shared their joy in an interview with NHK.

The Nootvar family hosted two Japanese national team players from high school who went to the United States when Nootvar was 9 years old, and interacted with team members Masahiro Tanaka and Yuki Saito.



Even now, baseball caps with the autographs of the national team players of that time are carefully stored at Nootvar's parents' house.



Nutvar played baseball and American football until high school, and was assigned to shortstop in baseball and quarterback in American football.



He devoted himself to baseball in college and started playing in the outfield from his first year.



When their son was selected for the Japan national team, his parents said, "I can't believe it. I'm so happy. I want him to do his best and do his best. Otani, Darvish, and the best players in the world have gathered." He is really looking forward to playing with the Japanese team and leading them to victory."

question and answer

Q1. Congratulations on your first selection, Nootvar.


Please tell us how you decided to join WBC.



Kumiko's mother


The first time I heard rumors was about the playoffs.

After the season ended, Mr. Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter (for Ohtani), called me and emailed me asking if he was interested.

When asked, Lars immediately replied that he was interested.



Next, I was asked to confirm the status of my passport and whether it was a Japanese passport.

I wondered if it was possible, and while I was thinking about it, Mr. Mizuhara said that Mr. Kuriyama, I, and myself would zoom in on Lars next time.



Q2. What did you think frankly when you were selected for the Japan national team?



Mother Kumiko


is unbelievable.

I still can't believe her, but I can't help but be overjoyed.

Lars himself is happy, but he kept it down as much as possible.

She was holding back, but her face was already smiling.



I think she was very happy to receive an offer from her mother's home country team.


Since I was a child, I grew up half Japanese, so I thought of Japan as half my home country.

Q3. What kind of connection do you have with Japan?



Kumiko's mother


In the summer when she was 9 years old, the US-Japan Friendship High School Baseball Team came to her hometown.

That experience was great, and I think it was a great experience to be able to see Japan's top baseball players and high school students in front of me.

Lars was with everyone in the dugout and was with them 24 hours a day.

It was an experience that lasted from a week to 10 days, but it was a rich experience.

Q4. Did you have any longing for the Japan national team?



What about your mother, Kumiko


?

But I imitated it.

I used to imitate.

They also imitated high school students bending the brim of their baseball caps.

There's no one to bend over here, so it's just Lars.

I was wearing my hat crooked.



Also, when I played for the Little League All-Star, I introduced myself on the self-introduction VTR, saying, "My name is Lars Nootbar, jersey number 21. I'm Japanese."

She had told her friends that her mother was Japanese, so I don't think she had any hesitation about being Japanese.

Q5. How does your father feel about being selected for the Japanese national team?



Father Charlie


He is a proud son to me.

He has a sense of closeness to Japan, and I think he has very good memories of interacting with Japanese high school baseball players.

The high school baseball players were heroes to him, and I think he wanted to practice like them.

It's great that he's playing for the Japanese national team.



Q6. How do you two expect your son to play an active role in the WBC?

I want



her mother, Kumiko, to give 100% of what she can do and contribute to Team Japan.


And she wants her to try her best to win.



Father Charlie I


'm sure he will play hard for Japan.

He is very much looking forward to playing with Ohtani, Darvish, and the Japanese team, which is made up of the best players in the world, and leading them to victory.

I think he will do the best he can.

And I expect the team to move forward.

WBC player qualification

In order to be eligible to participate in the WBC, in addition to the condition that the player himself has the nationality of the country or region of the national team or has permanent residency, one of the parents must have the nationality of that country or region. Or, it is also accepted that it was born.



From these conditions, Lars Nootvar is from the United States, but because her mother is Japanese, she was able to qualify for the Japan national team this time.



In previous tournaments, Alex Rodriguez, an American who hit the fourth-best home run in major league history and is known by the nickname "A. After representing the United States in the first tournament, he announced that he would participate in the second tournament in 2009 as the representative of the Dominican Republic.