Kaz Nagatsuka is a staff writer covering Japanese sports, including Japanese professional baseball, basketball, American football and individual sports. He has covered big sporting events such as the World Baseball Classic, the NFL Super Bowl and soccer's World Cup.
For Kaz Nagatsuka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
In the sole previous Rugby World Cup encounter between the two, Wales was forced to compete with one man down and wound up losing by one point. This time, it was its opponent that had the same problem and ended up losing by one point. Wales ...
Oita has been given the honor of hosting a pair of Rugby World Cup quarterfinals matches. But it is the only city that does not have a chance to see its national team, Japan, play there. Some of the Japanese fans, however, do not appear ...
England stormed into the Rugby World Cup final four with a convincing 40-16 win over Australia in the quarterfinals before a crowd of 36,954 at Oita Stadium on Saturday. The Europeans, who experienced the humiliation of being eliminated in the pool phase at the tourney's ...
Tomoya Machino is not the first Japanese player to set the lofty goal of becoming an NFL player. There have been others in the past who had been labeled as "the player closest to the NFL," and tried to reach the game's premier circuit. What ...
Japan defeated Scotland for the first time in the Rugby World Cup on Sunday. But that may have been the team's most minor accomplishment at International Stadium Yokohama. Much more importantly, the Brave Blossoms are taking their fans to new territory: the knockout stage. Many in attendance ...
Nav Bhatia, who is known as the "Super Fan" for the Toronto Raptors, was seen in the end zone at the two-game NBA Japan Games series between the Canadian team and Houston Rockets on Tuesday and Thursday in Tokyo. In fact, he was an attraction ...
The defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors showed their energy on the floor on Monday as they hit the gym for their first practice since arriving in Japan for a two-game preseason series against the Houston Rockets. The two teams will square off on Tuesday ...
Superstar duo James Harden and Russell Westbrook and other Houston Rockets players have arrived in Japan and held their first practice in Tokyo on Sunday ahead of their two-game preseason series against the Toronto Raptors. The two teams will compete on Tuesday and Thursday night ...
After an embarrassing exit in the pool phase when it was the tournament host four years ago, England traveled to Japan determined to make sure it wouldn't happen again at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. England (3-0) avenged its disappointment from four years ago by ...
The B. League has wrapped up its season with championship games at Yokohama Arena, one of the best venues for basketball in Japan, in each the last two years. Now, the Japanese men's pro circuit has decided to use the arena to open a new ...
