Japanese school pulling for Matsui

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Monday, October 22, 2007

There are a lot of reasons the kids at the Japanese School of Denver love Colorado Rockies player Kazuo Matsui.

Like them, Matsui is Japanese.

He was the first player from Japan to play second base in the major leagues, said Ian Eilers of Westminster.

He wears No. 7 - "and we're 7," added 7-year-old Marina Collins.

Then there's the whole World Series thing.

"I saw him on Japanese television," said Michelle Mutu, who's also 7 years old. "I thought he was pretty good at baseball."

The students spent much of the afternoon Sunday folding more than 1,000 origami cranes for Matsui - each one a special wish for good luck.

They also wrote personal messages to their favorite player - mostly in Japanese characters - and glued them to a banner that read "Go Matsui!" in English and Japanese.

The school, which holds classes once a week at Arapahoe Community College, came up with the idea because students and teachers were so excited for Matsui and the Rockies, said Principal Hideko Shimizo.

In the Japanese culture, 1,000 paper cranes - known as a "Senba-zuru" - is a symbol of victory for a person facing a difficulty. It is believed that as the person folding the crane goes about the intricate process, their best thoughts and wishes go into the origami, forming a massive show of support.

"The students really wanted the Rockies to win," Shimizo added.

Earlier this fall, Matsui sent a letter to the school for its annual field day. He encouraged them to participate in sports and to work hard.

When the Rockies went to the playoffs, the school sent a poster to the player, who is a superstar in his native Japan. Matsui posted on his blog a photo of the poster, hanging inside his locker in the Rockies' clubhouse.

Now the school is hoping the students will get to present the cranes and the banner to Matsui in person, though those details have not yet been decided, Shimizo said.

And come Wednesday - game one of the World Series - Matsui can be guaranteed that the approximately 75 students at the Japanese School of Denver will be pulling for him.

"So he can win the game," 6-year-old Miu Iwabuchi said.

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343