Hideki Kuriyama let out a relieved sigh and stretched as the TV cameras were switched off and he was free to relax a little.
The Samurai Japan manager had spent the past several days in the U.S. and was whisked straight from the airport to a Tokyo hotel to recount his trip on Sunday night. The brief respite he got once the filming stopped may be one of his few moments of peace for a while. With preparations for the next World Baseball Classic about to ramp up, Kuriyama is going to be pretty busy.
"Yesterday Harper announced that he was going to play, and if there are players like that, everyone is going to want to play," Kuriyama said, referring to the Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, the reigning National League MVP, committing to Team USA. "It is going to be my responsibility to be able to compete with those teams."