Samurai Japan finished its Premier12 campaign in successful fashion on Sunday night with a 5-3 victory over South Korea in the gold medal game at Tokyo Dome.
While it was an accomplishment by itself, the feat was an appetizer en route to the ultimate goal of winning it all at next year's Tokyo Olympics.
"I think we were able to deliver some encouragement to you through baseball. Hopefully, we'll become the best in the world again at the Olympics, which is half a year away," Japan manager Atsunori Inaba told the full-house crowd after the final.