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:
The players kneel at the ready, six to a side, staring down their opponents from across a verdant field. At the center line are four balls — three slightly deflated dodgeballs known as "bludgers" and a volleyball referred to as a "quaffle." Behind each mixed-gender team ...
Knowledge is not always power, but a little communication can go a long way. That's perhaps the biggest takeaway from last Saturday's game between Yokohama F. Marinos and Urawa Reds, where an outside source of information gave Teruhito Nakagawa a somewhat undeserved goal in the ...
A Teruhito Nakagawa goal that was — then wasn't — then was again overshadowed by 90 minutes of end-to-end attacking play in Yokohama F. Marinos' 3-1 win over the Urawa Reds on Saturday night at Nissan Stadium. Matches between teams comprising the J. League's "Original ...
When goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt lines up between the posts on Saturday night, he will be wearing Vegalta Sendai's crest for the last time. The 27-year-old's next stop will be Europe after agreeing on a full transfer to Belgium's Sint-Truiden earlier this month. While he's far from ...
Sai van Wermeskerken will become the latest Japanese player to join a top-flight European club this summer as he prepares to sign with the Netherlands' PEC Zwolle pending the completion of a medical examination. The 25-year-old right back, born in the Netherlands to a Dutch ...
The score was enough for Urawa Reds to earn three points on Saturday, but the road there was hardly scenic. Urawa labored to a 1-0 win over Vegalta Sendai on Saturday, despite spending roughly 40 minutes with a man advantage. Although expected heavy rain for kickoff ...
It's rarely easy to say goodbye. That's especially so in the J. League, where the celebration of players leaving to go overseas has turned into an annual event — along with a never-ending debate over whether much of it is deserved. The honor guards, the video ...
"Gentle Black Giants" reveals a little-known chapter of Japanese baseball's early years and the impact that a collection of Negro Leagues players had on its development.
On Friday, former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn abruptly announced — and just as abruptly canceled — a press conference as his defense against charges of financial misconduct continued. On Saturday, the Nissan-owned Yokohama F. Marinos' defense seemed equally unwilling to show up at Tokyo's Ajinomoto ...
Former J. League legends Zico and Guido Buchwald both urged young Japanese players to avoid making sudden leaps to big European clubs, suggesting that smaller moves could be better for their long-term development. The two discussed the state of Japanese soccer on Thursday at a ...
