AP A car bomb exploded outside a mosque Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding another 141 in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi — the third mass-casualty attack on the minority sect in the country this ...
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 ...
While Japan and the rest of the baseball universe are deep in the World Baseball Classic fever, the conventional major league and Japanese teams are going about their business getting ready for their respective April 1 and March 29 opening days. In the U.S., ...
Recall our column from last summer pointing out how there are very few catchers in Japanese baseball who can hit? One of the suggestions I made to hopefully improve the situation was for the Japanese teams to see if they can find a halfway ...
It’s time once again to gear up for the World Baseball Classic. The Samurai Japan team was to play its first WBC tuneup game on Sunday against the Hiroshima Carp at Sun Marine Stadium in Miyazaki. This will be followed by another warmup against ...
Kudos to Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese player in the major leagues, on his recent appointment as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. “Mashi” is highly qualified to take the leadership role in supporting charities and, having been acquainted ...
Will this be the season the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles make it to the Pacific League Climax Series for the second time in their nine years of existence? Hardline disciplinarian manager Senichi Hoshino got the team bumped up a notch in 2012, moving from ...
There was a news item saying the New York Yankees were considering signing Hideki Matsui to a one-day contract so he can officially retire as a major leaguer with that club. The Jan. 10 Kyodo report quoted Yankees team co-owner Hal Steinbrenner as saying ...
The 2013 season will surely be a pivotal one for the Hanshin Tigers and their fans as the team attempts to halt a downward slide that has seen the club finish in the Central League’s second division the past two seasons. Hanshin dropped from ...
The year 2013 will mark a season of notable anniversaries for Japanese baseball franchises and ballparks. It is Japanese year Heisei 25, the 25th anniversary for Tokyo Dome, Japan’s first indoor stadium, and the 20th for Fukuoka Yahoo Japan Dome, the country’s first-and still ...
Happy New Year and welcome to 2013. One of the bigger stories to close out the 2012 baseball news year was the retirement of former Yomiuri Giants and New York Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui at the age of 38. The Dec. 28 announcement ended ...
Most foreigners who come to Japan to play baseball do just that — and only that. Whether a career lasts a few games or several years, the guys go back to their home country to continue playing ball, stay in the game as coaches ...
So, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters got a nice Christmas present with the decision by 18-year-old fire-balling right-handed pitcher Shohei Otani to play for the defending Pacific League championship club rather than head straight for a career in the major leagues. From this point ...
Trades are not a common occurrence in Japanese baseball, and deals involving star players — or at least starting players on most teams — are rarely made. Sure, there have been some trades in the past where the term “blockbuster” might have been used, ...
