One day before the inaugural Premier 12 debuts, Japan national baseball team manager Hiroki Kokubo and South Korea skipper Kim In-sik addressed the media at a Sapporo hotel on Saturday evening.

"As it's finally beginning, we're thrilled," Kokubo said. "It's the first tournament, but Japan needs to win so this tournament will develop going forward."

Kim said that it's a little unfortunate that two of the best teams in the tournament, which feature the world's 12 best-ranked nations, would have to square off against each other in the very first contest But he added that his team would certainly give its best effort in Sunday's game at Sapporo Dome.