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P/SUNNY
Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s private disco featured not only aspiring showgirls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but one woman dressed up as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, ...
Tonkatsu is comfort food, gourmand grub — not a gourmet delicacy. So what are those hearty, unpretentious deep-fried breaded pork cutlets doing in an elegant little bar-style restaurant above one of Ginza’s temples to high-end consumption? Katsuzen has come a long way from its ...
Life in Japan just seems tailor-made for certain foreign residents, who slip into the fabric of this society as smoothly as a hand slides into a glove. American Curtis Patterson, a professional koto player and music teacher, is a case in point. Not only ...
It is a tricky deal being an authorized biographer. Charles Moore’s big advantage over those who have previously tackled Margaret Thatcher is that he has been provided with material denied to them. Of the arrangement that he was offered by his subject, he writes: ...
Unbelievable energy. Splendid self confidence. Never-wavering faith in his abilities or his teammates. Those are ingredients to success for Draelon Burns, the Yokohama B-Corsairs’ super substitute. Burns buried a remarkable three buzzer-beating shots to close out the three final quarters, and his team needed ...
It is always sad to hear about the death of a ballplayer who, as a youth, you admired. Sports reports on May 15 indicated Harmon Killebrew had decided to end his fight against esophageal cancer and was entering hospice care. The end was near, ...
There had been speculation, following the events of March 11, it might not be possible to play professional baseball games at Tokyo Dome for the entire 2011 season, on account of the problems at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power facility. Because it is an ...
Earthquake, tsunami, radiation threat; despite it all, five dedicated fans from overseas followed through on a planned trip to Japan to watch Japanese professional baseball games in mid-April, just a few weeks after the devastating events that occurred in the Tohoku region of the ...
A big change in Japanese baseball this year may be seen in the umpires. The former Central and Pacific League men in blue have been fully integrated under the NPB banner, each man now has his own assigned roster and sleeve number and there ...
Marc Kroon was cut just prior to opening day after trying to make the San Francisco Giants. The six-year Japan veteran closer with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants was attempting to return to the majors with the defending World Series champions, and he ...
In response to the events of March 11, causing the 2011 season openers to be postponed, Nippon Professional Baseball has come out with a revised schedule for games in April, but there is a lot of confusion about who will be playing where, which ...
When it finally gets under way, this is going to be what one fan has called a “patchwork” baseball season in Japan. We already know starting times will be changed for many games during the month of April, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles ...
Heartbreak. That’s the word that most often comes to mind when thinking about what has been happening here in Japan over the past week. In the grand scheme of things, baseball games and scores are not important, and the 2011 Japan pro baseball season, ...
The hype surrounding Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie Yuki Saito has just been phenomenal. From the grand entrance-to-the-team ceremony for the former high school and college pitching star at Sapporo Dome before 8,000 fans on Dec. 9, to the atmosphere at the Fighters’ spring ...
Marc Kroon will be missed. The flamboyant relief pitcher’s career in Japan has ended after six seasons; three years each with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants and, as mentioned here three weeks ago, Kroon has signed a minor league contract with the San ...
One of baseball’s most colorful and controversial figures is looking to make a comeback as a player at age 46, and his agent thinks Japan might be the place where Jose Canseco can resume his checkered career. Nello Gamberdino, based in Chicago, represents the ...