Japan to tour Scotland to celebrate 150 years of cricket history between the two countries

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/sport/cricket/scots-are-playing-pivotal-roles-in-development-of-cricket-in-japan.19885512?_=3ad22756498ee09bbffc29a627e4622e1ca9202f

In previous posts on this blog the Shanghai Scottish Propaganda Dept has often pointed out that it was the Scots and not their uppity Sassenach neighbours who were instrumental in getting cricket going in Shanghai. Likewise Japan owes its cricketing origins to a Scot who moved from Shanghai to Yokohama in the 1860s as the attached link highlights. 150 years on and it is still someone of Scottish descent that is driving Japanese cricket forward. A few of the older guys will remember their current CEO Alex Miyaji as well as these wonderful days between 2008 and 2010 when the Japanese womens team lit up the Shanghai Sixes with their unique brand of youthful exuberance.  So where better place for the Japanese to mark this milestone in their history than in Scotland? Both the mens and women teams will be touring Scotland this May and I will be sponsoring and hosting one of their fixtures at my old club in Glasgow. In addition, thanks in part to persuasive powers of Richard Graham, the former SCC President who got cricket going again in Shanghai in the early 1990s, the Japanese will also be playing a game at Lords.  The tour will of course include an international match between the Scottish and Japanese womens teams something that connects a few honourable Bashers with impeccable pedigree such as Woodstock who hold the unique distinction of playing in “international” games against both the Scottish women and Japanese women.

Hopefully one day the powers to be will arrange for the Japanese to play in Shanghai again or vice versa but until then Glasgow and Edinburgh in the first week of May is where Shanghai, Scotland and Japan will reconnect 150 years on from that day in 1862.