JERA Central League

Mr. Toshimitsu Higa, who turned to public relations for the team after retiring from active duty

It sparked the carp girl boom. Hisamitsu Higa, the head of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp’s organization department, joined the team in 3rd place in the draft from Waseda University, retired from active duty at the end of the 2009 season, his sixth year as a professional, and remained in the team as a staff member, becoming a public relations officer. It was the idea of ​​former owner Matsuda. “I was told, ‘Let’s give it a try,’ and ‘I’ll do it. I’ll do my best.’ That’s how it all started.” After that, she started to acquire female fans, but it is said that the trigger was a word from Red Hell Ace pitcher Kenta Maeda (currently Twins).

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On October 9, 2009, Mr. Higa received a notice that he was out of force. “I thought it wouldn’t be strange to be asked a year or two ago, so I felt like I wanted to come.” In his 5th professional year (2008), he had surgery on his right elbow, improved his condition, and improved his performance in the 2nd army. “My sixth year was a year when my batting changed dramatically. But I couldn’t keep working.

“The chances I was given decreased year by year. I was able to produce results in the second team, but I knew that I was still lacking compared to the people who were doing well in the first team.” He decided that a tryout would be tough. “In my case, I was asked to stay in the team as an employee, so I consulted with various people, including my family, senior Higashide (Teruhiro), and scout Sonoda (Toshihiko). I replied.” He then became an employee and became the team’s public relations officer.

“Thankfully, I was given one week of training at the Chugoku Shimbun and NHK at the beginning. I also found out.” It is said that this was also arranged by the owner Matsuda. “If I hadn’t done that training, I might have taken the people of the media lightly, although I hate to say it.

Selling “handsome guys” to attract female fans

That’s how the public relations work started, but one day before a game at Mazda Stadium, the home ground of the team, Mr. Higa said that pitcher Kenta Maeda’s words made him think. “Okay, let’s go,” Maeken came back to the salon and said, “Higa-san, seriously, I can’t get excited today. I feel excited when I’m there, and in a way I thought it was the team’s responsibility to create that environment.”

After that, I devised a number of strategies. What came out of that flow was to increase the number of female fans. “This was partly due to sales efforts, and I wasn’t the only one who did it, but I thought that female fans wouldn’t come to the stadium alone, and would probably come with friends.” On top of that, Mr. Higa thought about what public relations could do.

“I thought that if I could create what we now call ‘someone’s favorite’, if they thought that player was cool, the number of female fans would increase. At that time, there were a lot of cool players in Hiroshima, including Dobayashi (Shota), and those who were still smoldering in the 2nd Army. Well, it was funny.It matched with the red uniform and it started as a carp girl.”

At some point, Mr. Higa came to be called the person who sparked Carp girls. “I wondered what he was saying, but well, no, let’s get on with it. It would be even better if more and more fans came. I myself enjoyed doing it. , The most important thing was to make it fun for the players who took over.”

I had a lot of players help me. “Yusuke Nomura, (Kousuke) Tanaka, and (Ryosuke) Kikuchi also participated in the first and second years, when they were young. The heartwarming “three capybara brothers” also became a hot topic. “Imamura (Takeshi), Osera (Daichi), and Ichioka (Ryuji). Ideas, ingenuity, practice. Carp popularity increased with carp girls. Mr. Higa’s achievements during his public relations period were significant.

(Shinji Yamaguchi)

2023-08-02 21:50:00

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