{"id":74,"date":"2024-12-18T18:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T01:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=74"},"modified":"2024-12-18T18:00:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T01:00:39","slug":"japanese-baseball-star-takes-on-world-record-with-a-paper-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=74","title":{"rendered":"Japanese baseball star takes on world record with a paper plane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The \u201cBazooka\u201d of the Hanshin Tigers swaps baseballs for paper aircrafts in a record-challenge attempt.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

How should a professional baseball player be evaluated? Their transfer fee? Pitching speed? Number of home runs? Ability to increase sales of randoseru for dogs<\/a>? I say, no! It\u2019s high time that these players show us what they\u2019re truly made of by launching paper planes to the stratosphere with nothing but the power of their own arms.<\/p>\n

The team behind the customer support tool Tayori evidently shares my opinion, as on December 16<\/strong>, they challenged the Guinness World Record for the \u201cfarthest flight by a paper aircraft.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u25bc Tayori\u2019s logo is a paper airplane\u2014no wonder they\u2019ve got planes on the brain!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The person they invited to undertake this feat was Hanshin Tigers\u2019 strong-armed catcher Ryutaro Umeno<\/strong>. Umeno, with his powerful throwing capabilities<\/strong>, is a well-known threat to other teams, being dubbed \u201cUmeno Bazooka<\/strong>.\u201d In 2019, he even set the Japanese record for the number of assists in a single season as a catcher.<\/p>\n

Umeno gladly accepted the opportunity as it\u2019s not every day you get to challenge a Guinness World Record. The current record<\/strong> was set in the United States in 2022, at a staggering 88.31 meters<\/strong> (289.73 feet). If, like me, you have difficulty visualizing that distance, it\u2019s equivalent to just short of 116 baseball bats laid end-to-end, or almost 1,749 AA batteries. With the Umeno Bazooka locked and loaded, the record was well within grasp.<\/p>\n

The challenge was held at Noevir Stadium Kobe<\/strong>, the home ground of J-League\u2019s Vissel Kobe, and around 300 spectators were in the stands to watch the attempt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Supporting Umeno in his attempt was the Japanese record holder for paper airplane flight distance, Nobuaki Fujiwara<\/strong>. While Fujiwara\u2019s standard planes can be folded in as little as three minutes, he spent more than half a day crafting some of the planes<\/strong> specifically for this challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With this golden combination of record-holding paper plane craftsman and the legendary Bazooka<\/strong>, the new world record was practically theirs for the taking. The first target: Fujiwara\u2019s own record of 61.82 meters<\/strong> (202.82 feet or roughly 695 playing cards).<\/p>\n

The crowd warmed up the event with 100 people trying their hand at the record, bringing handmade paper planes to the starting line. Even with 100 participants, the farthest distance reached was a mere 20 meters (65.6 feet)\u2014but not everyone is a bazooka, so I guess that\u2019s to be expected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Then came Umeno, warmed up and ready to throw. Here he goes!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With a jaw-dropping speed, the plane soared to around the 50-meter mark<\/strong> (about 164 feet) effortlessly. It goes to show that, regardless of what he throws, Umeno deserves his fame\u2014he\u2019s on a completely different level to the amateurs from earlier.<\/p>\n

On his third throw\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He smashed the former Japanese record<\/strong> and achieved an incredible 64.652 meters<\/strong> (212.11 feet). That\u2019s almost 370 Syrian hamsters lined up head-to-tail!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Continuing to launch plane after plane, for a total of 44 attempts<\/strong>, Umeno just couldn\u2019t top his earlier throw and reach the world record<\/strong>. He remarked that, unlike baseball, he couldn\u2019t use a snap of the wrist, so his skill felt lacking. Fujiwara, however, commented that it was most likely an issue with his paper airplanes. Even though the two individuals of the golden team were full of self-reflection, the audience was still impressed. Let\u2019s not forget that Umeno near-instantly broke the Japanese record<\/strong>. That\u2019s an incredible feat, especially for someone completely unaccustomed to throwing paper airplanes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perhaps Umeno would have had better luck with the award-winning design developed by a Tokyo Institute of Technology student<\/a> a few years ago.<\/p>\n

\u25bc It probably would have allowed the use of his wrist snap.<\/p>\n

\n

\u7d19\u3092\u4e38\u3081\u3066\u6295\u3052\u305f\u3060\u3051\u3067\u8cde\u72b6\u304c\u3082\u3089\u3048\u305f\u3002 pic.twitter.com\/YCjMXCHg8N<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u3066\u308b\u308b\u3093\"?\"\"?\"\"?\" (@terurunchan) June 1, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Umeno is now the Japanese record holder<\/strong> and finished off the day by remarking that, given another chance, he\u2019d love to attempt it again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While a great show, as the throwing technique is remarkably different to that of baseball, I may need to re-evaluate my standards for judging baseball players. Maybe how well they can intimidate their team members with a wrench<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Photos \u00a9SoraNews24<\/em>
\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n

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The \u201cBazooka\u201d of the Hanshin Tigers swaps baseballs for paper aircrafts in a record-challenge attempt. How should a professional baseball player be evaluated? Their transfer fee? Pitching speed? Number of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}