Spoilers

This is a "YA" book & tells about a young man in Japan in the 1890s. He is from a samurai family. His uncle took part in a revolt against the emperor and his father writes anti-government stories for the newspaper & opinion pieces. The uncle is given permission to kill homself. The hero goes to a top Japanese boarding school. He and his fellow first-year students are brutally abused by the older boys. But they learn a lot and the bravest (like our hero) impress the old students. The school has a baseball team. Our hero teaches the team how to be like a samurai. Even the teammate who is not from a samurai family. And so they become a great basketball team. Meanwhile the father wants to kill himself too, but the son tells him that the Emperor wants him to live and to kep promoting his agenda.

Ridiculous title, but an intriguing book. It deftly explores the evolution of Japanese culture just before the advent of the 20th century. It unflinchingly examines some of the darker aspects of samurai culture while at the same time lauding its more admirable virtues and traditions. I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. ( )

Enjoyed this encounter with turn-of-the-last-century Japanese high school baseball--the novel provides a look at the evolution of Japanese school culture (complete with hazing) as well as the transition from samurai ideals into Western-influenced modernism.

I didn't find the family relationships entirely convincing and I would have liked more focus on the classroom experience, but I was fascinated with the boys' struggles between yearning for life beyond the "Wall" and dedication to building their own society within it. ( )

“Samurai Shortstop” by Alan Grats was an interesting book for me. The story revolves around a boy named Toyo Shimada. He is part of the generation which is between the “Old Japan” and the “New Japan” where there are no samurais allowed. The story is about how he tries to become the link between the both worlds. I think that the story is interesting because of the amount of detail in the book. The author uses many Japanese words to explain certain parts of the story but they are used in such a way that people like me who know nothing about Japanese can understand important words in their culture. The author’s attention to detail makes it feel like a movie is being played in front of you. From this book you can also learn the culture of Japan in the 1890s. I would recommend this book to people of all ages who are either interested in the transition between the “Old Japan” and the “New Japan”, Baseball or Baseball in Japan. ( )

Good story about baseball in Japan and about being a samurai. ( )