MINAMISANRIKU, Miyagi (Kyodo) -- Rookies from the Rakuten Eagles visited Minamisanriku, one of the places devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, on Saturday.

The rookies of the club, based in quake-hit Miyagi Prefecture, saw videos and materials from the disaster at a facility and visited the town's former disaster countermeasure center, where 43 people lost their lives.

"My desire to win the championship and make Rakuten fans happy got stronger," first-round draft pick Rui Muneyama said. "The best thing for us is to produce good results and make people watching us feel good."

When the rookies learned about Taiwan's massive financial aid to Japan in the wake of the disaster, sixth-round pick Yang Po-hsiang from Taiwan said, "This is the first time I've heard of the support. I feel really good about the way bonds were created."