ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡-Waseda Baseball Games Support Committee
"A student organization where members with a simple spirit of love for the Juku and a slightly serious heart for service gather and unite as if drawn together" is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the first year of Reiwa. This is the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡-Waseda Baseball Games Support Committee (hereafter referred to as the Support Committee).
The Support Committee is a student organization aimed at supporting various operations of the Waseda-ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ rivalry in Tokyo Big6 Baseball. They sell cheering section tickets on each campus, conduct public relations activities regarding the Juku baseball team's games, guide spectators on the day of the Waseda-ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ rivalry, and manage and provide security around the site. They have a brotherly relationship with the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ Cheerleading Team, which also belongs to the Welfare Institution (an organization consisting of five groups that consider student life support for ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students from the perspective of student self-governance).
Why is it that we can feel a sense of unity when watching the Waseda-ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ rivalry at Meiji Jingu Stadium, and every time we win, we can still march through the glittering streets of Jingu, Aoyama, Roppongi, and Azabu-juban to the Mita Hilltop Square carrying lanterns and receiving blessings from people along the way while singing "Wakaki-chi" and "Under the Sanshokuki"? It is because of the underlying support of the Support Committee.
Successive members of the Support Committee frequently visit Meiji Jingu Gaien and relevant police stations, and they actually work part-time at the company that operates games at Jingu Stadium to learn safety manuals. They strictly adhere to rules. This accumulation of trust over many years has led stakeholders to recognize them as "exceptional," allowing them to achieve things that others cannot imitate.
There are various theories about the 50-year roots of the Support Committee, but according to current members, it started with male students who provided security at the very back of the victory parade. At that time, while watching college baseball at Meiji Jingu Stadium was very popular, there were many instances of bad manners among student spectators, and a significant number of ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students required help from the police or emergency services. Therefore, members of the Support Committee at the time brought rear cars from the university to Jingu and transported ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students who had collapsed from alcohol from the stadium to the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ Hospital right in front of them on the flatbed. Furthermore, they went to greet the Yotsuya, Marunouchi, Shibuya, and Tsukiji police stations, waited in front of police boxes in the streets where ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ students would flow, and arrived before the officers to try to settle the situation.
According to alumni from the Heisei era, when a line from the former Meiji Park stretched all the way to the ticket gates of JR Sendagaya Station and people could no longer leave the station, the Support Committee used their traditional technique of six-column lining and signal crossing to manage. The police were reportedly impressed by the sight of a limited number of members orderly guiding the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ line.
These unglamorous activities of the Support Committee might seem plain compared to their brothers in the ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ Cheerleading Team. However, as you can tell by talking to them, every member you meet has a straight back, elegance, and a pleasant demeanor. In the Support Committee, detailed guidance on how to greet seniors, language usage, how to write emails, and rules for appropriate times to contact others are still passed down today.
I feel that it is a strength for ÎçÒ¹¾ç³¡ to have the Support Committee. I sincerely hope they continue for the next 50 years.
(Akifumi Tomoda, Manager, Hiyoshi Office of Student Services)
*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.