For home run-hitting legend Sadaharu Oh, this November's competition between Japan's best players and major league all-stars is vital if Japanese baseball really aspires to become the best in the world.

In an exclusive interview with Kyodo News last week, Oh, who managed Japan to victory in the first World Baseball Classic, discussed the competition against major leaguers, development of the Japanese game and its national team, Samurai Japan.

Eight years after losing his stomach to cancer surgery, the 74-year-old Oh leads the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks' front office as the Pacific League club's director. He criticized the players union's decision in 2006 to abandon the regular competition against big leaguers.