Search - baseball

 
 
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 9, 2011

Sawamura learning from mistakes in debut season

Before a recent game against the Yomiuri Giants, a rival Central League player remarked that rookie Hirokazu Sawamura might become the Giants' best hurler once he really learns how to pitch.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
May 31, 2011

Veteran Hawks running out of time to add title to legacy

The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks' caging of the Hanshin Tigers in Game 7 of the 2003 Japan Series seemed at the time as if it would be the heralding of a new dynasty in the Pacific League.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 18, 2011

Sledge leading charge for surprise-package BayStars

The Yokohama BayStars lost 95 games last season and it seemed like everybody in Japanese baseball got their licks in against the struggling team.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 13, 2011

Eagles chairman Mikitani enjoys day at the park

Golden Eagles chairman Hiroshi Mikitani is a widely known top entrepreneur in Japan. But Tuesday, he was so emotional as his ballclub finally opened its 2011 season after the massive earthquake hit the franchise's home city, Sendai.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 10, 2011

Kroon can't make cut with San Francisco

Marc Kroon was cut just prior to opening day after trying to make the San Francisco Giants. The six-year Japan veteran closer with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants was attempting to return to the majors with the defending World Series champions, and he did not make the team — but why not?...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 3, 2011

NPB unites for common cause on field

Jingu Stadium was alive for the first time in weeks.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2011

Athletics showing commitment to Japan

Oakland Athletics slugger Hideki Matsui and Seattle Mariners superstar Ichiro Suzuki, have already contributed to the ongoing relief efforts in Japan. With the help of the A's, they'll be able to do a little more.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 25, 2011

Ramirez to salute disaster victims after HRs

Alex Ramirez's generally jovial, gregarious disposition sometimes makes it easy to forget there's a more serious side to the Yomiuri Giants star.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 20, 2011

Sumo seeks to recover from disaster of its own making

If March 13, 2011, had been a normal Sunday in Japan, at around 4:30 p.m. this writer would have popped open a beer, grabbed a packet of shelled peanuts, switched on his TV and watched the first day of the Osaka Grand Sumo Tournament on NHK.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 27, 2011

Hype may be biggest obstacle for Saito as rookie

The hype surrounding Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie Yuki Saito has just been phenomenal.
Reader Mail
Feb 17, 2011

Requirements for sumo's survival

Regarding Tom Quinn's Feb. 13 letter, "Match-rigging scandal overblown": Japanese sumo needs to wake up if it wants to survive. Salaries are tiny compared to pro baseball or J League soccer. Also, any professional sport will fail if its main matches are played between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.; a 7 to 9 p.m....
EDITORIALS / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Feb 10, 2011

National sport on its knees

The Japan Sumo Association, rocked by a match-rigging scandal, has decided to cancel Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which would have started March 13 in Osaka. This is the first time that a grand sumo tournament known as hon-basho has been canceled since the summer of 1946, when the summer tournament...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2011

Three admit to throwing sumo bouts

Sports minister Yoshiaki Takaki told the Diet on Thursday that three people in the sumo world have admitted bout-fixing, further disgracing the Japan Sumo Association and jeopardizing its status as a certified public interest corporation.
JAPAN / Q&A
Feb 4, 2011

Match-throwing final nail in sumo coffin?

The sumo world has had its share of scandals in recent years but the latest one — text messages indicating match-fixing — is rocking the "dohyo" ring hard.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 21, 2010

Curtain beginning to fall on careers of some of Japan's top closers

Is Takuya Asao the next great Japanese closer? He might have to be, because as age creeps up on some of the league's top firemen, the next generation will soon have to step up and prove its worth.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 14, 2010

Mail-order buyer, be aware

In retrospect, I didn't really need a new baseball cap. But this one, advertised by the publisher of a nationally circulated magazine, had a humorous logo in Japanese that tickled my fancy, making it — like much of the merchandise sold via mail order — a novelty item not sold in stores.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?