UH Hilo Vulcans host Chuo University baseball team for exhibition games, cultural exchange
“Baseball has served as a bridge between our cultures,” says Garett Yukumoto, UH Hilo baseball interim head coach. “These exhibition games are more than just competition, they’re an opportunity for international friendship and a celebration of the game we all love.”
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
This story was first posted at Chancellor’s Blog, March 12, 2026.
Chuo University’s junko (semi-hardball) baseball team arrived on Hawaiʻi Island Feb. 26 from Tokyo, Japan, for a pair of exhibition games hosted by the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. This was a return trip for the Chuo team after previously visiting in 2017. A planned 2020 visit was canceled due to the pandemic.
UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin, along with Director of Athletics Patrick Guillen, joined Mayor Kimo Alameda, Honorary Consul General of Japan in Hilo Art Taniguchi, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawaiʻi 1st Vice President Mitchell Dodo, and Japanese Community Association of Hawaiʻi President Burt Tsuchiya to welcome the team with a special dinner at the Hawaiʻi Japanese Center in Hilo.
“The young men from the Chuo baseball team are wonderful ambassadors for their university!” says Chancellor Irwin. “I was honored to welcome them and their coaches to Hilo.”
Cultural exchange was an important part of the trip. The Chuo players toured museum exhibits at the Hawaiʻi Japanese Center highlighting the history and cultural contributions of Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans in Hawaiʻi and on Hawaiʻi Island.
“Baseball has served as a bridge between our cultures,” says Garett Yukumoto, UH Hilo baseball interim head coach. “These exhibition games are more than just competition, they’re an opportunity for international friendship and a celebration of the game we all love.”
In a statement from Vulcan Athletics, this second Hawaiʻi expedition is the Chuo team “traveling for a friendly series against the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, framed by director Shigenori Yanagawa as a student-first international exchange focused on growth, new perspectives and deeper cross-border friendship — made possible through the support of families and Hawaiʻi’s baseball community with a stated commitment to transparent, responsible planning centered on what benefits students’ futures.”
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
