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.
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Sep 29, 2013
Few issues left in play as season nears finish
by Jason Coskrey
Nippon Professional Baseball has crowned its 2013 league champions and most of the spots in the Climax Series have already been spoken for. Even so, there are still a number of questions remaining and storylines to be wrapped up as the season enters the ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Sep 22, 2013
Home run king Balentien nearing another conquest
by Jason Coskrey
Wladimir Balentien has hit more home runs than any NPB player has ever hit in a single season and through Sunday had 13 games left to add to his record total which stood at 58. As if Balentien’s year wasn’t already impressive enough, the ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Aug 4, 2013
Fighters pitcher Wolfe not ready to give up on season
by Jason Coskrey
Brian Wolfe’s confidence is not shaken. His Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters may be struggling and stuck in the Pacific League cellar, but Wolfe is not waving the white flag on the season just yet. The Fullerton, California, native won’t guarantee some miraculous run to ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Jun 21, 2013
Lefty starter Kikuchi thriving for Lions
by Jason Coskrey
Yusei Kikuchi is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Seibu Lions Friday night against the Orix Buffaloes as Japanese baseball gets back to intraleague competition this weekend. Kikuchi (7-2) has been among the best pitchers in Japan this season, and will take the ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK May 11, 2013
Tigers continue early-season mastery of Giants
by Jason Coskrey
To say the Hanshin Tigers have been successful against the Yomiuri Giants is a somewhat of a misnomer. It’s probably more accurate to say the Tigers have owned the Giants in the early part of the season. Refer to the 2004 ALCS when Boston ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Apr 12, 2013
Morgan hopes to aid BayStars' climb out of CL cellar
by Jason Coskrey
There are so many written and unwritten rules around baseball that sometimes people in the sport tend to take things a little too seriously. That’s not a problem for new Yokohama BayStars outfielder Nyjer Morgan, who has the utmost respect for his craft, but ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Apr 6, 2013
Giants hope Bowker, Lopez end foreign scouting drought
by Jason Coskrey
The last ‘homegrown’ foreign player to make any major impact for the Yomiuri Giants was volatile pitcher Balvino Galvez, whose reign of terror lasted from 1996-2000. Before him, there was Warren Cromartie, the 1989 Central League MVP who hit .321 with 171 home runs, ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Jan 24, 2013
Trading four-time All-Star Itoi doesn't make sense for Fighters
by Jason Coskrey
So why did the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters trade away arguably the best player on their team, if not in the entire Pacific League?
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Nov 27, 2012
Yoshikawa's MVP award puts pitcher in elite company
by Jason Coskrey
Last week, pitcher Mitsuo Yoshikawa became the first Pacific League MVP winner from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters since 2009. The last Fighters player to earn the honor was former ace Yu Darvish, who won in both 2007 and 2009. Yoshikawa’s triumph also marks ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Nov 11, 2012
WBC squad may be hurting for top-line pitching
by Jason Coskrey
Japan manager Koji Yamamoto said his World Baseball Classic team would mirror previous Japan squads and be built around pitching and defense. An admirable ideal, if not for the small issue of his best pitcher not wanting to play. What’s more, the second or ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Nov 2, 2012
Yoh motivated by possibility of trip to Busan
by Kaz Nagatsuka
Stretching on the field hours before Thursday’s Game 5 of the Japan Series, Hokkaido Nippon Ham outfielder Daikan Yoh smilingly said that he hoped to go to South Korea. That meant that he wanted to advance to the Asia Series in Busan by winning ...
Japanese Baseball | NPB NOTEBOOK Nov 1, 2012
Former boxer Sugiya not interested in watching son, Fighters at ballpark
by Kaz Nagatsuka
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters youngster Kenshi Sugiya and his father, Mitsuru, are a unique father-son tandem. Both of them have been professional athletes. Mitsuru Sugiya was a Japan featherweight champion boxer, who also fought in a WBC world title match, in the mid-1980s. But ...