High School Baseball in Okinawa:

Focusing on Sport Consumer Behavior and Historical Perspectives

Abstract

  In Japan, it is said that Okinawans are very enthusiastic in their support for the Okinawan national high school baseball teams in the National High School Baseball Championship, commonly known as Summer Koshien (hereinafter referred to as "Koshien championship"). In fact, when the Okinawa national teams are competing, it is reported that "the number of automobiles on the road reduces," "some individuals take a day off from work," and "crowds of people gather in front of televisions set up in public locations." On the other hand, there have been no attempts to survey the people of Okinawa prefecture and clarify the factors of this phenomenon, and academic understanding and clarification of this phenomenon have not progressed. Therefore, this research aims to understand the emotions and behaviors of the Okinawan people in terms of their support for the Okinawa national teams in Koshien championship from the viewpoint of sport consumer behavior, taking into account historical and cultural backgrounds. The results suggest that while some factors of Okinawans' support for the Okinawa national teams can be adequately explained by previous research on sport consumer behavior, there are also areas of significant divergence, and a major factor explaining the uniqueness of the divergence is the historical and cultural background, including attitudes toward the rest of the regions.