Dan Orlowitz is a sports writer for the Japan Times, focusing primarily on the J. League, Samurai Blue, and everything there is to print about Japanese soccer. A Philadelphia native and graduate of Simon's Rock College, he moved to Japan at the end of 2006 and fell in love with the beautiful game from behind the FC Tokyo goal. His words, photos, voice, and occasionally visage have appeared online, in print, and over the airwaves for numerous outlets in several languages since 2011.
For Dan Orlowitz's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Eight years ago, Japan won the FIFA Women's World Cup and earned its place among women's soccer's elite nations. Now, as the sport known as "WoSo" packs stadiums in London, Madrid, Monterrey and Philadelphia, the country that introduced the likes of Homare Sawa and Saki ...
In a Wednesday news conference occasionally interrupted by tears, Vissel Kobe striker David Villa announced his decision to retire after the end of the current J. League season. The 2010 World Cup winner has spent the twilight of his career globetrotting since establishing himself as ...
After mostly exorcising their reputation as "silver collectors" by claiming two straight J. League first division titles, Kawasaki Frontale have at last fully shed that reputation by claiming the Levain Cup in their fifth attempt. Although Frontale's hopes of becoming the second club to achieve ...
A controversial decision by J. League second-division side Machida Zelvia to rebrand as FC Machida Tokyo has dominated water-cooler discussions in the Japanese soccer world this week. The announcement by club owner CyberAgent last Friday at a fan meeting was met with instant disapproval, both ...
After postponing an early morning decision until 10:30 a.m., Rugby World Cup organizers on Sunday announced that a climactic Pool A clash between Japan and Scotland will take place as scheduled at International Stadium Yokohama. The match had come under threat in the wake of ...
In the sumo ring, wrestlers from Mongolia rule the roost against their Japanese opponents. On the soccer pitch, Japan is clearly still king. Takumi Minamino scored in his third straight match, veteran defender Yuto Nagatomo netted his first international goal in 10 years and Junya Ito ...
The NBA found itself in the middle of a firestorm Monday — facing criticism from both Beijing and U.S. lawmakers — for its reaction to a tweet by the Houston Rockets’ general manager backing ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Beijing was furious over General ...
Even in the prime of Keisuke Honda's career, there have been few in the Japanese soccer community who could claim to have a good understanding of what was going on in the mind of the enigmatic midfielder. After a series of increasingly erratic tweets in ...
Last weekend saw packed crowds take over Ajinomoto Stadium and Nissan Stadium, two of the J. League's biggest venues, for pageantry-filled days of sport. That sport, however, was not soccer. Instead, the two stadia — known temporarily as Tokyo Stadium and International Stadium Yokohama — have ...
After seven years of hard work, the J. League's vaunted "Asian Strategy" has resulted in some significant successes. Building on them will be an even bigger challenge. European stars such as Andres Iniesta and David Villa may be giving the J. League its long-awaited global exposure, ...
