Minami-Awaji Memorial Hall: Celebration—Photo Op Panel
The Yomiuri Shimbun featured the “Uzu no Oka Great Naruto Bridge Memorial Hall”!
Following the Hanshin Tigers’ first-ever back-to-back Central League championships, celebratory events were held in areas with ties to Guuchi. At the “Uzu-no-Oka Great Naruto Bridge Memorial Hall,” a tourist facility in Fukura, Minami-Awaji City—which houses a permanent exhibition of jerseys and autographs from Awaji Island natives Koji Chikamoto and Shoju Murakami—a "Championship" and "Back-to-Back Titles" were hastily created for visitors to take commemorative photos. Posters bearing messages such as "Congratulations on the Championship!" were also displayed. Masakazu Tanima, the museum’s manager, said, "We hope people will celebrate the championship through these photos and show their support for the two players from our island."
Fumiaki Tatsumi (53), a physical education teacher at Awaji Municipal Ichinomiya Junior High School who previously served as head coach of the baseball team at Awaji Municipal Higashiura Junior High School—Chikamoto’s alma mater—spoke to the press immediately after the championship victory. Reflecting on his former student’s performance—who achieved 100 hits for the eighth consecutive year despite missing games due to injury—he said, “I think it was a tough season for him. He’s a truly amazing player. He’s the pride of the island and an inspiration to the children who play baseball here,” he said.
Looking ahead to the Climax Series and the Japan Series, he offered words of encouragement, saying, “I want him to play in his own style, just the way he sees fit.” At the Amagasaki Chuo 3-chome Shopping District in Amagasaki City, a ceremony was held to set the magic number on the electronic display hanging from the arcade to “0.” Since 2002, the shopping district has been displaying the number of Hanshin’s remaining games as part of an initiative dubbed “Japan’s Earliest Magic Number Lighting.” After the “magic number” was lit on August 29, the display had been updated to “23,” reflecting the number of games remaining. During the ceremony, a celebratory paper ball was popped, and as the display changed from “1” to “0,” cheers erupted from the gathered fans, and a chorus of the team anthem, “Rokko Oroshi,” rang out.
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