In October 2013, Japanese baseball officials, stung by the country's failure to win the World Baseball Classic earlier that year, decided to make some changes and hired Hiroki Kokubo as the manager of the national team.

Kokubo's goal was to prepare Japan for the next WBC, and the means to that end was an ambitious, multi-year plan where Japan's various national teams would operate as a single intertwined entity, much like is seen with national programs in soccer.

The impending prospect of the 2017 WBC hung over Kokubo as he began his tenure with a three-game series against Taiwan in November 2013. It looms even larger now, nearly three years later, as Kokubo prepares to face Taiwan again in a two-game series that begins March 5.