‘Once I go to the front, I may not set foot on the soil of my homeland or my school again. At the very least, I want to play, if possible, with Waseda...’

Being called the last Sokei-sen, this game had an enormous importance which might be unbelievable for us living today. This year, the Sokei-sen was held on May 31st and June 1st. For me, it was natural that the Tokyo Big-6 Baseball League or the Sokei-sen was held. But during the war, that was not the case. ‘The young lives may perish in battle, so at least we want to make this match as the parting gift for them,’ thought the adults. ‘We must burn ourselve out with all our strength and make this match a historical one,’ thought the young people. Such emotions were entangled. Previously, I casually thought the Sokei-sen is just an ordinary thing, but this movie made me to realize that it exists because it overcame such a past.

Although it was on a weekday, many people came for the preview of the film, and the Okuma Auditorium was full. As the story goes, the hall as a whole became one with the feeling of the players who wanted to continue playing baseball, and with the feeling of the parents who had to send off their sons. Many people, including me, were moved to tears to see the players who spent their youth during wartime. In addition, on the day, former Prime Minister Mori, an alumnus of Waseda University, also turned up, and expressed his emotion.

Now people who know about the war are decreasing year by year. For us today the war might already be an event which occurred a long time ago. However, we should not just regard it as something that happened in the past. I think we have to learn from the past through such an occasion. For me, this film was one of those opportunities.

We always seek a peaceful world. What is a peaceful world? I would like to keep thinking about that.