Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
Brian Wolfe essentially had the season riding on his shoulders in the first Japan Series game of his career. Wolfe’s postseason career to that point had consisted of one-failed trip to the Midwest League (Single-A) playoffs in 2001, where his Quad City River Bandits ...
A change in scenery got the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters back in their comfort zone and back in the Japan Series. With former star Yu Darvish watching as a guest commentator for the television broadcast, Atsunori Inaba roused a slumping offense with an early ...
The Yomiuri Giants are headed to Hokkaido with an eye on capturing the Japan Series title. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are headed home simply trying to come up with a way to earn a return trip to Tokyo. The Kyojin edged the Fighters ...
Hirokazu Sawamura made his Japan Series debut by hitting a pair of batters in the first inning. A friendly tap on the head from catcher Shinnosuke Abe, and a leadoff home run by Hisayoshi Chono got the second-year right-hander back on track and the ...
One has to wonder what was going through John Bowker’s mind as he rounded the bases after hitting a three-run home run during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the Japan Series. Maybe as the ball sailed toward the seats in right, Bowker ...
Baseball is hardly the first thing that springs to mind when Canadian sports are discussed. Hockey is king in Canada, and slap shots and glove saves stoke the nation’s fire more than home runs or diving catches ever could. The Toronto Blue Jays’ World ...
Coming off a tough season, John Bowker was ready for his moment. The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters sure weren’t ready for him. Bowker hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning and added a two-run double in the seventh, while starter Tetsuya Utsumi ...
For the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Yomiuri Giants, it was business as usual on the eve of the 2012 Japan Series. Both teams practiced for about two hours apiece at Tokyo Dome in anticipation of the title series, which begins Saturday at the ...
The dust has settled on the 2012 season and only the Yomiuri Giants and Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters are still standing. These two clubs will slug it out in the season finale for the second time in four seasons, with the victor claiming the ...
D.J. Houlton didn’t know what to expect, and there was a good chance no one else did either. The 32-year-old Yomiuri Giants hurler couldn’t remember ever making a start on three days’ rest, even as far back as his days pitching for the Los ...
