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SPORTS
Dec 30, 2016

The top sports stories of 2016

The Japan Times newsroom selected these sports stories as the most important of 2016.
Reader Mail
Mar 22, 2012

Martial arts among safer sports

In the March 15 editorial "Reason to skip judo class" — which expresses concern over the introduction of judo and other martial arts as mandatory sports in Japanese junior high schools — there is some confusing information.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 11, 2006

Japanese sports officials to step up anti-doping controls

Japanese sports officials intend to conduct random out-of-competition drug tests at the annual National Sports Festival in their stepped-up efforts to fight doping, sources familiar with the move said Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2003

Amino sports drinks gaining strength

Reflecting higher health consciousness and an ever-rising number of fitness enthusiasts, sports drinks containing amino acids are continuing to enjoy brisk sales in Japan.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2002

Adidas, Waseda in sports tieup

Adidas Japan K.K. and Waseda University said Thursday they have agreed to form a comprehensive tieup in the sports business, the first alliance of its kind in Japan between a corporation and a university.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 19, 2000

These World Sports Awards rated 'X'

LONDON -- In Felix Baumgartner's eyes, Mike Tyson probably looks like a wimp, Tiger Woods possesses no useful skills and David Beckham is merely the guy who married a Spice Girl. Baumgartner's world is worth following, if you can stomach it. All the Austrian does for a living is confront death as if...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 1999

Osaka all smiles for sports meeting

OSAKA — Overseas visitors to a major international conference here in October will be greeted by young women shoving drinks into their hands and smiling old male bureaucrats distributing promotional literature.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Apr 5, 2023

NCAA hit with antitrust lawsuit over student-athlete payments

The lawsuit builds off a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said it was illegal for the NCAA to have blocked schools from offering education-related benefits.
Japan Times
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Mar 14, 2023

'Wasted money': Rwanda splurges on sports despite criticism

President Paul Kagame has spent a small fortune on sports investments that he says will burnish the international image and diversify the economy of the tiny central African country.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 14, 2022

Research shows new Olympic sports had high rate of injuries in Tokyo

More than 11,300 athletes from 206 national teams were monitored in Tokyo, with more than a thousand injuries recorded.
Japan Times
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Sep 27, 2022

Sports streamer DAZN agrees to buy rival Eleven

The deal will consolidate the streaming market in a number of countries as DAZN looks to further its offerings in Europe and expand into Taiwan and other Asian territories.
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Jul 17, 2022

Olympic legend Kosuke Kitajima spearheads Tokyo pro sports movement

The four-time gold-medalist swimmer hopes his new initiative, Tokyo Unite, will boost the capital's international profile and enable its members to tackle pressing social issues.
Japan Times
TENNIS
May 12, 2022

Naomi Osaka leaving IMG to open own sports agency

Osaka's upcoming venture will operate as a 'small boutique and bespoke agency.'
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2022

Japan must find better ways to nurture its future superstars

Japanese baseball star Roki Sasaki threw a perfect game, but the old ways of doing things could have ruined him before he started.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2022

World Athletics president says state of women's sports is 'fragile'

Sebastian Coe believes sporting organizations, including his own, should focus on science when considering policies regarding transgender athletes.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Mar 14, 2022

Andy Murray calls hecklers unfortunate part of sports after incident involving Naomi Osaka

'Obviously I feel for Naomi, that it upset her a lot but yeah, it's always been something that's been part of sport, I guess, as well,' Murray said.
ESPN, the sports TV unit of Walt Disney, is licensing its brand to casino operator Penn Entertainment, further deepening the media giant’s ties to online gambling.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 9, 2023

ESPN inks long-term deal with casino operator Penn Entertainment

The move to license its brand for sports betting deepens the media giant’s ties to the growing online gambling business.
Fans of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani outside the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday.
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Mar 22, 2024

MLB games streamed to skeptical South Korean fans herald global shift

There’s still no dominant sports broadcaster or streamer that serves all of Asia, and that means that there will be fierce competition.
Sport climber Miho Nonaka competes during the Tokyo Games in Aomi Urban Sports Park in August 2021.
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Apr 25, 2025

Beauty expert encourages female athletes to embrace game day glam

Beauty expert Miha Fukuoka believes sportswomen do not need to downplay their femininity to be taken seriously.
The French government and Paris Games organizers had promised to leave a legacy that would help tackle the problem of people spending too much time on screens and doing too little exercise.
OLYMPICS
Oct 2, 2024

Frustrated French clubs turn away players in post-Olympics sports boom

Swimming clubs have registered around 10,000 new members, while table tennis clubs are expecting around 20% more players.
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 8, 2025

From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development

Sibling dynamics — whether it’s rivalry, support, or a mix of both — can have a profound impact on an athlete’s development and success.
A childhood snapshot of Shohei Ohtani and his mother, Kayoko, posted on MLB’s account on social media website X.
BASEBALL
Mar 7, 2024

'Sporting geniuses are made, not born': How to be an all-star sports parent

If you want your child to be a top 1% athlete like Shohei Ohtani, a good place to start is to take a look at what his parents did.
Japan’s Coco Yoshizawa participates in a Paris 2024 Olympic qualifier. This summer’s Olympics will be the first in which half of athletes are female.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2024

Paris Olympics’ gender equality boast has an asterisk

Paris 2024 will be the first Olympics where half of all athletes are female. But the gender gap remains wide among the ranks of coaches and needs to be tackled.
The Las Vegas strip during the week of the Super Bowl. There’s been mounting speculation that the NBA will add two teams, with Seattle and Las Vegas being the top candidates.
BASKETBALL / NBA
Jul 20, 2024

Las Vegas NBA team set to be most expensive U.S. sports franchise

The list of potential suitors spans LeBron James and his backers to the company that owns the Red Bull brand.
Over the past 10 years, the athletic performance of women in their 40s showed a decline in the total score as well as in individual categories, according to the Japan Sports Agency.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 15, 2024

40% of Japanese women in their 30s and early 40s don't exercise at all

The trend reflects the fact that women in this age group tend to be busy with child rearing or work, according to the Japan Sports Agency.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past