Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Baseball Topics
Japanese Baseball Sep 17, 2013
Surging Carp win seventh straight on sayonara homer
Right-hander Kan Otake went the distance and Yoshiyuki Ishihara belted a sayonara home run to lift the streaking Hiroshima Carp to a 2-1 victory over the Hanshin Tigers on Tuesday evening. The Central League’s third-place Carp, who are aiming for their first postseason appearance ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 16, 2013
Carp beat Giants to boost playoff hopes
The Hiroshima Carp capitalized on a bullpen meltdown by the Yomiuri Giants on Monday in a 5-4 victory that was the sixth straight win for the Central League’s third-place club. Chasing their first postseason appearance since they lost the 1991 Japan Series, the Carp ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 15, 2013
Balentien sets new Japan single-season home run record
by Jason Coskrey
As soon as Wladimir Balentien’s bat made contact with Daiki Enokida’s fastball there was no doubt: Japan had just crowned a new home run king. And the new king’s first decree was that his record total wasn’t high enough yet. Balentien set the NPB ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 14, 2013
Swallows snap losing streak in wild encounter with Tigers
by Jason Coskrey
A prized rookie pitcher went head-to-head with a slugger on a historical pace before a fight broke out and before and a player dove across home plate to successfully execute a suicide squeeze. The most recent tilt between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Hanshin ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 13, 2013
Balentien still waiting as Tigers beat Swallows
by Jason Coskrey
Wladimir Balentien said getting to 55 was “the hard part” in his quest to set a new single-season home run record. From the looks of things, 56 isn’t going to be a walk in the park either. The Hanshin Tigers kept the Tokyo Yakult ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 12, 2013
Carp double up Swallows; Balentien remains at 55 homers
by Jason Coskrey
There were plenty of balls flying out of Jingu Stadium on Thursday night. Just not the one the fans wanted to see most Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Wladimir Balentien didn’t go deep, but four home runs by the Hiroshima Carp, including a three-run shot ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 11, 2013
Balentien ties single-season home run record
by Jason Coskrey
Before facing the Hiroshima Carp, Wladimir Balentien and teammate Ryoji Aikawa decided they were going to go with a high-sock look, or as Balentien put it, “old-school, Sadaharu Oh-style.” He really resembled the Yomiuri Giants legend when he stroked a history-making home run into ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 11, 2013
Balentien ties single-season home run record
by Jason Coskrey
Wladimir Balentien turned Japanese baseball’s record-setting trio into a quartet. Balentien hit an opposite-field solo home run in the sixth inning of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ game against the Hiroshima Carp to tie the NPB single-season record with his 55th homer of the year ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 10, 2013
Balentien belts 54th home run in loss to Carp
by Jason Coskrey
Wladimir Balentien moved one step closer to history, and the Hiroshima Carp remained on track for a long-awaited trip to the postseason. In a way, everyone went home happy about something. Balentien connected on his 54th home run of the year, a two-run shot ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 9, 2013
Furuya capitalizes on second chance to beat Lions
A night after having a dreadful start mercifully aborted by rain, Chiba Lotte lefty Takuya Furuya (7-1) allowed two runs in seven innings in the Marines’ 4-3 win over the Seibu Lions. By winning the game, a makeup of Sunday’s contest that ended with ...
Japanese Baseball Sep 8, 2013
Balentien, Ogawa star in Swallows' win over Dragons
Wladimir Balentien got back into the chase for Japan’s single-season home run record and rookie Yasuhiro Ogawa (13-4) took over the Central League lead in wins as the Yakult Swallows defeated the Chunichi Dragons 5-1.
Japanese Baseball Sep 7, 2013
Giants stage comeback victory over archrival Tigers
Shuichi Murata hit a two-run homer off teenage rookie Shintaro Fujinami (10-5) in the fourth inning, and Hisayoshi Chono hit another in the fifth as the CL-leading Yomiuri Giants rallied from a run down to beat the second-place Hanshin Tigers 4-1 on Saturday. Matt ...