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 Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey
Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 16, 2019
Spotlight on Ichiro for openers
Ichiro Suzuki still isn't used to dealing with the jet lag that comes with flying from the United States to Japan.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 13, 2019
Chiba Lotte's Mike Bolsinger sets lofty goals for 2019 season
Mike Bolsinger ended his first year in Japan with a 13-2 record and 3.06 ERA in 117⅔ innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 6, 2019
Clean-shaven reliever Ryan Cook excited for new challenge with Giants
Ryan Cook's former Seattle Mariners teammates will have be forgiven if they don't immediately recognize him when they arrive in Japan later this month.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Mar 4, 2019
Eagles' Takahiro Norimoto leads NPB group chasing Giants ace Tomoyuki Sugano
Tomoyuki Sugano is the best pitcher in Japanese baseball.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 25, 2019
Time has come for Japan to consider burden placed on young arms
Kosei Yoshida threw more pitches in six games during last summer's National High School Baseball Championship than NPB hurlers did in any one month last season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 18, 2019
Lions need Imai to step up with Kikuchi gone
Yusei Kikuchi, as Japanese fans can easily see on news reports every night and also on the internet and in newspapers, is doing just fine so far in his first MLB spring training with the Seattle Mariners.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 12, 2019
DH talk brings back memories of reverse experiment
One thing the current conversation about a possible universal DH in MLB is showing is that a lot of people have great disdain for the concept of pitchers hitting.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Feb 10, 2019
Chihiro Kaneko draws attention from Yu Darvish, others, because of change-up
Chihiro Kaneko, as a 35-year-old veteran of 13 seasons, probably possesses a fair amount of wisdom he can impart on the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitchers younger than him.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 4, 2019
Giants go on offseason flurry in effort to revive glory days
The Yomiuri Giants are often referred to as Japan's answer to the New York Yankees — the "Evil Empire" version of the Bronx Bombers anyway — and the offseason they've had makes it easy to see why.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 28, 2019
ONE Championship's focus on fighting helped attract Eddie Alvarez, Demetrious Johnson
Eddie Alvarez is here to fight. That's it. "The Underground King" isn't interested in playing a character or engaging in over-the-top WWE-style promotion.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 25, 2019
BayStars slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo becomes advocate of pitch-count limits for youth
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo was struck by a strange thought while playing for Samurai Japan during the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Jan 16, 2019
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame showing little respect for former NPB great Tuffy Rhodes
It's one thing for another year to pass with Tuffy Rhodes not yet even within shouting distance of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. But there has to be something in the voters' water for the American slugger to be left in the dust by Masahiro Kawai on the ballot. Yet that's where we are.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 15, 2019
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, Hiroshi Gondo and Haruo Wakimura elected to Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
Kazuyoshi Tatsunami began his career with a double and by the end of his 22 pro seasons had racked up more two-baggers than any NPB player before or since.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 12, 2019
Eagles announce plans to make Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi world's first cashless stadium
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles want you to leave your cash at home.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Jan 7, 2019
Yusei Kikuchi's move shows revised posting system not great for NPB clubs
Why would an NPB team post its best players now?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Dec 30, 2018
Stars switching numbers, changing names becoming staple of NPB offseasons
Offseasons in NPB are about change, just not exactly the type that immediately springs to mind.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Dec 24, 2018
Giants experience downside of NPB free agency as Tetsuya Utsumi departs
The images late last week of lefty pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi posing for photos wearing a white Seibu Lions uniform over his dress shirt — he wore a blue tie for effect — might've been a bit jarring for Yomiuri Giants fans.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 20, 2018
2018 was a busy year for gamers in Japan, with established franchises and open world epics reigning supreme
Many gamers began 2018 by teaming up with a garishly outfitted cat and rushing into battle against a big, angry monster. Some of those same people will usher out the year by punching Nintendo icon Mario in his famously mustachioed face.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 20, 2018
Demetrious 'Mighty Mouse' Johnson set to make ONE Championship debut against Yuya Wakamatsu
Mixed martial arts superstar Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson will make his ONE Championship debut in Japan against Yuya Wakamatsu, the organization announced on Thursday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 19, 2018
One Championship raises U.S. profile
One Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong expects the company's recently-announced deal with U.S. broadcaster Turner Sports will go a long way toward raising the martial arts organization's profile in the U.S.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.