"I've coached in professional baseball in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan ― and the Monkeys right now are exciting. You'll want to keep an eye on them." That's the word from Kenji Furukubo, who has been coaching the Rakuten Monkeys since 2022. If you're going to start cheering for them, now is the time!

Taiwan’s professional baseball scene has been drawing more and more attention in Japan in recent years, and much of that is thanks to the Rakuten Monkeys, founded in 2019. From the success of former Japanese pro pitcher Chen Kuan-Yu to the electrifying cheering of the exclusive Rakuten Girls cheerleaders, there are so many catchy things to love. And did you know that the person guiding the whole team right now is Japanese? Head coach Kenji Furukubo has spent over 20 years nurturing professional players, including a stint with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He’s connected to “Rakuten baseball” in both Japan and Taiwan ― which means we simply had to talk to him! He looks a little intimidating at first glance, but the care he has for his players shines through in every word, and by the end of the conversation you feel fired up about baseball. Now that’s what it means to talk to a coach!

——As someone who knows both Japanese and Taiwanese professional baseball inside out, what aspects of the Rakuten Monkeys would you highlight to hook Japanese baseball fans?

Firstly, the level of the players is high.Lin Li, who also participated in the WBC, is undoubtedly one of the leading players in Taiwanese professional baseball today.His potential should not be underestimated, even in countries like Japan or America.Additionally, third baseman Liang Chia-Jung is also good.His glove handling and the flexibility of his wrist are truly amazing.I’m not sure if it’s fair to say it’s on par with Nori (Norihiro Nakamura), though (laughs).There are many top-class Taiwanese Baseball players on this team, just like them.

——Both of the players you just named are in their twenties. Is watching young players one of the draws?

“Absolutely. They’ll keep getting better, so fans will get a lot of satisfaction from cheering for them. On that note, the Monkeys as a whole are going through a generational transition right now. The players who came in through last year’s draft are all talented and exciting prospects. Watching them push hard to overtake the veterans is going to be really fun.”

——What would you say is the defining characteristic of the Rakuten Monkeys, from your time coaching them?

“They are exceptionally good as a team. That might actually be true of Taiwanese professional baseball in general. Everyone gets along well with each other. And they’re genuinely good people. The flip side is that sometimes I think they’re a little too nice. The league isn’t that big, so players on different teams are all friends too. Even when I was on a rival team before joining the Monkeys as head coach, I was regularly in touch with the Monkeys players, which is why when I came on board, they welcomed me right away.”

——So you sense that while that’s a strength, there could be a little more edge.

“There are times I feel that way. It is a competition, after all. Sometimes you have to take an aggressive approach.”

——This might be a tough question, but do you feel there’s a difference in level between Japanese and Taiwanese professional baseball?

“At the individual player level, I don’t really sense any difference. Pitcher quality in particular has been improving year after year. I think they could put up great numbers in Japanese professional baseball. At the team level, it’s a bit more nuanced; it’s not so much a difference in quality as a completely different style of play. In Japan, as you can see from high school baseball at Koshien, tactical baseball is ingrained from the high school level, so players learn to lay down sacrifice bunts when there are no outs and a runner on, run squeeze plays with a runner on third, and things like that. But in Taiwan, the most promising young players go to the U.S. in their teens, where they learn a more individualistic style of baseball, and then come back to Taiwan and apply it. It’s not a question of which is better. There’s just a fundamental difference in the way things are done.”

——Has your own coaching style also changed?

“Of course! I’m learning every day. When the foundations are different, the training methods are different too. And the times are changing. You can’t just coach from the experience you built as a player anymore. The days of Star of the Giants are behind us. But the passion to work players hard and make them stronger ― that’s never going to change.”

Text: Yohsuke Watanabe (IN FOCUS)