Scouting

Yes, high schoolers are very actively recruited. Matsuzaka was signed out of high school after becoming the hero of Koshien's summer tournament a number of years back. Godzilla (Matsui) was another Koshien star signed out of high school. The KK Combi (Kuwata and Kiyohara) where the big Koshien stars of 1985, both drafted in the first round, and both starting on the top teams their first year.

High school stars are very important to Japanese teams' scouting efforts. More often than not, college recruits are more mature and usable right away, but the high school heros are the ones who get the most press at the November draft and during the February camps.

Related to this, do you now what the rule is concerning contact between professional baseball players and high school players in Japan? We had a couple of former MLB players (Eddie Taubensee and Mickey Weston) here in Fukuoka a couple of years ago doing baseball clinics, and the local high school coach would not allow any direct contact between his players and the MLB players. They were only allowed to watch from behind the screen while the MLB players gave instruction to the junior high school players.

I don't know of any rule. According to the press, professional players, managers, and coaches hold these clinics and, so far as I can tell, talk one-on-one with all of the kids. But now that you mention it, I don't recall if the kids are of high school age or not.

It seems to me that Valentine-kantoku has been involved with these in the past, so he might have some insight should you have the chance to interview him.

Japan has pretty strict rules governing interactions between professionals and amateurs. I'm not 100% sure if this applies to high schoolers as well (I'm inclined to think so, but don't quote me on that). I'll look for the High School Baseball Federation's web page. Maybe it'll have some info.

Ah, found some info! The High School Baseball Federation's web page layout is difficult to read, but they indeed have all its bylaws on the page! The relevant passages are as follows:

Article 1 those fulfilling the following conditions are disqualified from being athletes or club members in High School baseball. Therefore they may be a part of a team and engage in matches.
....

4. Those who have participated in a professional baseball team's practice or game.

5. Those who have received testing or coaching from a professional baseball team.
....

Supplementary Articles
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7. In these regulations, "professional baseball team" also includes all foreign-based professional baseball teams.

Well, that doesn't totally answer the question. Obviously, team practices, etc. are forbidden, but I'm not sure if a professional baseball player would always be considered a representative of his team.

I could imagine people erring on the conservative side, too, to make sure that their high school team stars aren't disqualified.

- Therefore they may be a part of a team and engage in matches.

Whoops! That should be "... may not be a part of a team ..."