Japan's most adorable ceremonial first pitches

The internet delivers one over the plate by collecting 37 pictures of Japanese celebrities (and Chewbacca) throwing out the first pitch at Japanese baseball games

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As one 2-ch commenter notes, "Some of them have good form!"

In the U.S., the "ceremonial first pitch" is usually reserved for Presidents and hunky actors. In Japan the tradition, called Shikyushiki (始球式), actually predates the practice's first appearance America. Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu became the first human being to ever throw the honorary ball at the Koshien tournament in 1908.

In more modern times, teams frequently invite young Japanese female idols and sports heroines to the diamond to help kick off the show. If the ceremony is more about pageantry than atheletic prowess, it only makes sense to focus on the country's most heart-warming personages.

Someone out on the internet compiled a single image of 37 famed Japanese females -- and beloved Wookie Chewbacca -- throwing ceremonial first pitches at various Japanese baseball games. And in the comment sections, someone has even gone so far as to kindly list everyone in the picture: starting with race queen Miho Yoshioka, fashion model Ayako Kawahara, Olympic curler Ayumi Onodera, the Asada sisters, and gold-medal skater Shizuka Arakawa.

Baseball is a national pastime in Japan, so everyone looks relatively well put together for the occassion. Other than Yinling of Joytoy, who wins the award for "least clothing."

None of the 37, however, could possibly compete for Japan's worst ceremonial first pitch. American singer Mariah Carey set the bar ridiculously low back in 2008. It will be a long time before someone breaks that record.

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W. David Marx is CNNGo's Tokyo City Editor. Originally hailing from the American South, David studied East Asian Studies in New England and then worked for the magazine Tokion in the Lower East Side. After moving to Tokyo in 2003, he has completed a M.A. in Consumer Behavior, worked for an ad agency, written freelance for magazines such as GQ, Brutus, Weekly Diamond, and Nylon, founded numerous niche blogs, and recorded two albums on New York-based indie labels.