Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki was a kind, long-lasting friend when I was in Japan. I am excited at the opportunity to host him while he is visiting the East Coast of Maryland. Hiro - welcome to my home, welcome to my family, take your shoes off (I don't need to tell you that, you're Japanese) and relax!

Here's a funny story about Hiro. On Wednesday Hiro braved the freezing temps to seek out one of his favorite baseball players that has been signed to the Orioles, Koji Uehara.

Uehara was a successful starting pitcher on Japan's most popular team, the Yomiuri Giants. Hiro is a huge fan, so he thought he'd join the crowds to catch an upfront glimpse of his pitching star.

Except he was the only one. Arriving at 7:30 a.m. to stand in a lone corridor at Camden Yards Hiro took some video of Uehara walking by and shouted, "Uehara-san!" only to be ignored. Though, he did not give up.

He killed time waiting for 8 hours, chatting up the star's manager, the Camden yards security men and anyone nearby. Finally, the security man must have seen the hope in Hiro's eyes and offered to take him up to the closed press conference.

They were too late. No one was there. They were told Uehara went on the field to look around. Naturally, Hiro followed. He described the situation as Uehara in the lead, then an american camera crew, then the Japanese camera crew and then Hiro riding on their coattails as he slipped past the other Oriole Park security guards.

He's in! What an adventure. Inching up closer he could see the Japanese camera crew whispering to the Camden Yards security men. Oh no, he thought. And he was right. Immediately he was politely escorted out of the playing field to wait alone outside at the Parks entrance.

Did he acheive victory? Sure enough. Finally, at 5 p.m. after a long day of waiting and trying, Uehara and his wife exited the stadium. Uehara's manager, who had spoken to Hiro earlier, pointed Hiro out to Uehara. Uehara came up to Hiro and said he had heard about him waiting all day, and his travels, and politely snapped a pic. The wait was worth it.

I thought the funniest thing was that night Hiro was reading a Japanese commentary on the press conference on the internet and Hiro was mentioned in it! The writer said he saw a man being dragged away by security guards while Uehara was on the field. The writer than interviewed an american security guy and the guy said, "Yeah, that guy has been waiting all day since the early morning to be near Uehara. Uehara must really be famous in Japan."

Hiro laughed because the article made him seem like a strange stalker, as he was the only fan there. If that was in Japan, Hiro would have had no chance to get near Uehara. This makes me think how much the Baltimore Orioles media coverage will benefit from advertising dollars and recognition in Japan. Who wants to bet we'll start seeing Japanese ads on the field? Maybe this is just what our hopeless Orioles need...moolah.