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Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Feb 28, 2022

Hokkaido, a pioneer in esports, draws fans and pro teams

The region has joined the boom, and has seen professional teams sprouting up one after another in anticipation of further growth and the Hokkaido Esports Festival.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2022

Asics defies Nike’s China underperformance in return to profit

Many foreign sports brands struggled in China last year as controversy erupted over cotton sourced from the Xinjiang region, making Asic's performance a surprise.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 10, 2021

Sports, silent meals and 'Shut Up!': What Japan was talking about in 2021

The year's top buzzwords were announced to great fanfare, but the real word on everyone's lip last week was 'omicron.'
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 12, 2021

A surprise sports hero broadens Italy’s image of itself

Lamont Marcell Jacobs, the son of a Black American father and white Italian mother, has broadened the public imagination of what Italian athletes, and Italians, can look like.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2021

Nissan debuts seventh generation of iconic Z sports car

The new Z is the first rebuild of the two-door platform in over a decade and will be available for purchase next spring, Nissan said in a statement Tuesday.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 26, 2021

Olympic champion at 13: Momiji Nishiya becomes Japan's youngest gold medalist

Many sports including skateboarding are children's games at their cores, you just don't always see kids rising up quite like this on the world stage.
Japan Times
EDITORIALS
Jun 5, 2021

Naomi Osaka shows what a real champion is made of

Osaka is an introvert with high expectations of herself and who battles anxiety and depression. Success and those earnings have not eliminated her unease.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Jun 1, 2021

Naomi Osaka's Paris exit leaves questions on athletes' humanity and media’s role

Heads of the four Grand Slam events had threatened further fines and disqualification Monday if the four-time winner did not attend mandatory media sessions.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2021

Hashimoto brings experience and connections in sports and politics to new role

The former Olympics minister appears to have only reluctantly accepted the post, and she may face questions about her relationship with her predecessor, Yoshiro Mori.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 21, 2021

Marketing and sports data apps join fight against pandemic

Devices designed for improving customer marketing and sports performance are now being used in the fight against COVID-19.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 6, 2021

NHL sells division naming rights to corporate sponsors

The National Hockey League, which took a revenue hit last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak, said on Tuesday it has sold the naming rights to its divisions for the first time.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA
Dec 18, 2020

Social slam dunk: Washington Wizards scoring high with Japanese media strategy

The club has capitalized on Rui Hachimura's first season with localized content that has generated enthusiasm in Japan and drawn praise from NBA officials.
Japan Times
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 9, 2020

NSSU freshman Hidetora Hanada emerges to claim amateur yokozuna title

The Nippon Sports Science University student overcame a talent-studded field at Sunday's All Japan Sumo Championships, the country's top amateur sumo tournament.
Eiffel Tower Stadium, which was used for beach volleyball during the Olympics, will host blind football during the 2024 Paralympics.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 23, 2024

Paralympians prepare to take center stage in Paris

Eighteen of the 35 Olympic venues will be used for the Paralympics.
Koji Yamaguchi, president of Ox Engineering, says Paralympic athletes using the firm's wheelchairs won more than 140 medals in summer and winter games combined between 1996 and 2021.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2024

Wheelchair-maker in Japan empowering Paralympic athletes

Founded in 1988 as a developer of motorcycle engines and parts, the company switched to the wheelchair business in 1995.
Weighting the total number of medals won by each country by value — three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze — reveals that the 12 countries with the highest medal count in Paris are all advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024

The geopolitics of Olympic medals

A larger population offers a broader talent pool, and economic development supports better sports infrastructure and policies.
Former Ukrainian serviceman Yevhenii Korinets and fellow members of the Ukrainian Paralympic sitting volleyball team at a gym in Reshetylivka, Ukraine, on Aug. 7
PARALYMPICS
Sep 10, 2024

Paralympic flame still burns brightly for military veterans

Some professionals have said that para sport is a natural fit for former military operatives.
New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard competes at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021. A group of more than 50 New Zealand Olympians, doctors and sport administrators has called on the government to review guidelines on transgender athletes in community sports, saying they ignore female athletes' rights and undermine fairness and safety.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 11, 2024

New Zealand Olympians call for review of transgender guidelines

The group says the guidelines ignore female athletes' rights and undermine fairness and safety.
SV League players and Chairman Masaaki Okawa (front, holding a volleyball) during a news conference in Tokyo last month.
MORE SPORTS / Volleyball
Oct 9, 2024

Japan's new volleyball league has big dreams as it gets set to launch

The SV. League replaces the V. League as Japan's top volleyball league and aims to eventually become the best volleyball league in the world.
Stadium workers paint the World Series logo on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, a day ahead of the start of the Fall Classic.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024

Baseball’s biggest stars and biggest markets align for MLB broadcaster

As much as the history of the two franchises, the teams’ star players and league-leading records this season should help attract more casual baseball fans.
Retired pro-boxer Mike Tyson and YouTuber/boxer Jake Paul fight during the heavyweight boxing bout in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 15. The fight highlights the need for a national boxing commission to enforce uniform safety standards and prevent exploitative matchups.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2024

Mike Tyson and Jake Paul's fight should have been illegal

Among major American sports, boxing is unique for its decentralized structure. There’s no annual schedule, season, commissioner or mandatory rulemaking body.
Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting battles Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the final of the women's 57-kilogram division at the Paris Olympics in August.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Nov 28, 2024

Taiwan Olympic boxing champion quits event after gender questions

Lin, who was embroiled in a gender row at the Paris Olympics, was due to compete in the World Boxing Cup Finals in Sheffield starting Wednesday.
IPC President Andrew Parsons poses for photos before a news conference at the Milano Cortina 2026 Organising Committee headquarters in Milan, Italy.
PARALYMPICS
Mar 7, 2025

IPC chief tasks sports with setting own rules for transgender athletes

The Olympic Games and the Paralympics currently allow transgender athletes to compete.
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 18, 2025

Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar

The Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player is at the peak of his stardom, and brands are rushing to cash in with huge sponsorship deals.
The Punjab Kings' Josh Inglis competes in the final of the Indian Premier League on June 3 in Ahmedabad.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Jul 10, 2025

Cricket's Indian Premier League value surges to $18.5 billion: report

The world's richest cricket tournament has been estimated to generate more than $11 billion a year for the Indian economy.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear