RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Japan manager Kiichiro Kubo takes in the MLB Little League Classic at Bowman Field on Sunday with his coaches and players between the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. Kubo is a four-time LLWS champion as he was an assistant coach when Kitasuna LL of Japan won titles in 2001, 2012, 2015 and 2017.

Prior to the beginning of Thursday afternoon’s press conference, Tokyo, Japan manager Kiichiro Kubo wanted to make a statement to those in attendance in English.

He wanted to show his appreciation for returning to South Williamsport.

“The people are great. I love it so muhc. I want to move here. I’m not kidding,” Kubo said to laughs. “I’m serious. We are here to play baseball and we will do our best to become world champions.”

Kubo could put South Williamsport down as his secondary home at this point. This isn’t his first trip to the Series. Or second. Or even third.

Kubo and winning are synonymous. He is a four-time Little League World Series champion and is a huge part of why the the region is always outstanding.

In his four prior trips to the World Series, he was a intregal part of Japan winning titles as an assistant coach in 2001, 2012, 2015 and 2017.

Those teams were from Kitasuna Little League. Now, he’s with Joto Little League of Tokyo and is hoping to see the same success he’s become accustomed too.

This year marks Kubo’s first trip to the Series since winning it in 2017.

These couple last few years, Team Japan couldn’t be the International and World Champions,” Kubo said. “We want to go there and we need to play again.”

Japan historically is always among the most talented teams at the World Series year in and year out.

But that World Series championship banner has eluded Japan since Kubo helped Kitasuna claim the title over Texas in 2017, 12-2.

Japan lost the International championship in 2018 to South Korea and took third by beating Georgia, 8-2; and then took fourth in 2019 after falling to Curacao in the International final and losing to Hawaii, 5-0.

There was no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 tournament featured only United States teams due to the virus and traveling.

Japan went 0-2 in 2022, and lost in the International semifinals both of the last two seasons, falling to Mexico in 2023 (2-0) and Chinese TAipei (3-1).

But as Kubo said, he wants Japan to once again be the International champions and vying for a world title, something the nation of Japan has won 11 times.

Those 11 titles trail only Taiwan’s 17 on the International side.

Japan got through its regional thanks to winning four games in two days, meaning Kubo had to pay close attention to pitchers and managing his arms. In the end, it’s beneficial knowing they have depth on the mound.

“It was so good to take a lot of time for the next game,” Kubo said. “I’d like to decide with the pitchers how many pithces they throw and I need to check at times.”

Kensei Takeuchi, Ritsugu Furusato and Tensei Yazawa combined on Thursday to blank Brno, Czechia 12-0 in a no-hit effort. They combined to only issue one walk and Takeuchi struck out six.

That showcased that talented pitching depth Japan has and shows why they’ll be tough to defeat.

“It feels great to get the strikeouts,” Takeuchi said of his six strikeout, no-hit performance through 2 1/3 innings.

And, while he didn’t pitch, Yushi Yamamoto spoke about his opportuity to pitch in the team’s next game possibly.

“I usually try to pitch as well as I can against everyone,” Yamamoto said.