A day after the Japan High School Baseball Federation’s May 20 announcement that it was canceling this summer’s high school baseball tournament and regional championships due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the high school baseball federation of Ishikawa Prefecture started organizing its own regional championship, saying it will hand out 2,000 quick-dry masks to players and managers participating in the event.
Under the project dubbed the “Ishikawa model,” the federation will hand out neck warmer-shaped masks made of an antimicrobial fabric used in swimsuits that can be washed and reused and are more breathable than multilayered masks.
The idea came up during exchanges between team managers of high schools in Ishikawa's capital of Kanazawa and Komoro, Nagano Prefecture.