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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 11, 2009

Brit muscles way to BayStar success

Young boys, bright-eyed and clutching miniature gloves, gather in ballparks and dream of their own futures as part of a professional team.
CULTURE / Books
May 11, 2008

Who says there's no poetry in a game?

BASEBALL HAIKU: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball, edited with translations by Cor van den Heuvel & Nanae Tamura. W.W. Norton, 2007, 214 pp., $19.95 (cloth) In Ueno Park in Tokyo, among the museums and other attractions, there is a baseball ground. It is not large, and its name is not...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 30, 2006

Recalling lady umpire Perry Barber and Cooperstown cookies

Reader Dennis McCormick from Hyogo Prefecture recently wrote to ask, "Do you remember about 15 years ago an American woman umpire came to Japan and worked a few Japanese games in the Kansai area? I don't recall her name, but I was surprised when I found out she was not a regular umpire in one of the...
SPORTS / TALK OF THE TIMES
Oct 5, 2001

Rhodes finds formula for success in Japan

American Tuffy Rhodes is the senior-most foreign pro baseball player in Japan, currently completing his sixth season with the newly crowned Pacific League champion Kintetsu Buffaloes. The 33-year-old Rhodes, who played for the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox during his six-year major-league...
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Aug 25, 2018

Defining the Heisei Era: When Japanese sports went global

Baseball star Hideo Nomo may have blazed a trail for Japanese players in the MLB when he signed with the Dodgers in 1995, but the achievements of domestic athletes abroad in the Heisei Era certainly didn't stop there.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 1, 2012

Kato showed strong leadership in introducing new ball, Mizuno says

Kim Yu Na played a huge role in securing the 2018 Winter Olympics for Pyeongchang, South Korea, last year. Prior to that, David Beckham helped do the same for London, which will host this year's Summer Games.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 23, 2001

Mori planning major overhaul for BayStars

It's been said that life is all about truth and time. Well, truth be told, new Yokohama BayStars manager Masaaki Mori would prefer to spend as much of the time he has left on Earth doing what he loves most -- working in baseball.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 3, 2022

Legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully dies at 94

Known for his 'golden voice,' articulate phrasing and rich knowledge of the game, the New York City native is indelibly linked to one of Major League Baseball's most storied franchises.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Jan 13, 2020

Samurai Japan has chance to reach new audience at Tokyo Olympics

Samurai Japan manager Atsunori Inaba, during a lecture in Hokkaido last month, noted there was no parade after the national team's win in the Premier12 in November.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 18, 2015

Diamondbacks representatives help promote MLB Cup in Japan

Major League Baseball enlisted a little star power to help announce its latest youth initiative in Japan.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 18, 2014

Buffaloes' Italian pitcher Maestri keeps track of Azzurri's World Cup progress

When Mario Balotelli headed Italy into a second-half lead over England at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Italians around the globe rejoiced. That included Alessandro "Alex" Maestri, an Italian relief pitcher for the Orix Buffaloes who was watching in Osaka and had a game to suit up for later in the day....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 8, 2012

Give Kato four more years at NPB helm

A Kyodo News item came out of the blue on July 3, indicating Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato's term was to have expired June 30, and he is now in limbo, awaiting word about whether he will be extended.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 8, 2011

Hearty bunch enjoyed Japan tour

Earthquake, tsunami, radiation threat; despite it all, five dedicated fans from overseas followed through on a planned trip to Japan to watch Japanese professional baseball games in mid-April, just a few weeks after the devastating events that occurred in the Tohoku region of the country beginning...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 23, 2011

An inside look at selection for Japan's Hall of Fame

When Hiromitsu Ochiai is inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame this coming summer, it will be a very convenient situation. As manager of the defending Central League champion Chunichi Dragons, Ochiai will also pilot the 2011 CL All-Star team, and the HOF induction ceremony will take place...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 7, 2008

New book on pioneer Yonamine a must-read

There are a couple of new baseball books on the scene. One about the life of a foreigner who spent almost four decades in Japanese baseball, and the other a collection of heart-warming tributes by some well-known former players to those who convinced them not to give up chasing the dream of becoming...
BASEBALL / MLB'S EFFECT ON JAPAN
Apr 13, 2007

NPB needs major reform, vision to prosper like MLB

This is the third installment in a four-part series.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 25, 2005

Technology keeping Mizuno key player in sports market

It's funny how fate plays a role in life.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005

Retired athletes learn to survive life after sport

While all workers in Japan feel pressure to perform at the top of their game, that's probably more true for professional athletes than anyone else.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 26, 2005

New book offers interesting retrospective on Japanese game

Remembering Japanese Baseball, an Oral History of the Game is the title of a new book by Robert K. Fitts, the creator of RobsJapanese Cards.com, the world's largest Web site dedicated to Japanese baseball cards and memorabilia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 5, 2004

Takafumi Horie: Livedoor whiz kid sets a new style

Takafumi Horie, 31, has been the man in the news since the end of June, when he announced that his Tokyo-based Internet service firm, Livedoor Co., was in the market for Osaka's debt-ravaged Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 5, 2002

It may be the world's most popular sport, but not here in Japan

If there was any defining moment for Japanese sports last month, it surely came right after Turkey eliminated the lads in blue from the World Cup on June 18.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 17, 2001

Take me out to the big league

As U.S. President George W. Bush makes the rounds in Europe, taking flak and talking trash, it seems like a good opportunity to address what his father would refer to as the "cultural hegemony thing." South Korea and France deal with it by subsidizing their movie industries. China screens everything...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 18, 2022

It’s time to rescue Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani

Trout and Ohtani are not just stars, they are supernovas. Yet their careers are becoming meditations on genius unfulfilled.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 5, 2022

In $500 million trading card deal, Fanatics buys Topps

Michael Rubin, the CEO of Fanatics, called trading cards and collectibles 'a significant pillar” in the company's plans.
JAPAN / Explainer
Nov 6, 2023

What to know about the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan

The project is controversial due to the potential felling of thousands of trees, loss of green space and threat to historic gingko trees.
Fans of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani outside the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
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.
People place their bets at the Fanduel sportsbook in East Rutherford, New Jersey, during the Super Bowl in February 2019.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 31, 2024

U.S. sports leagues bet on gambling. Now they’re facing its risks.

Leagues have signed lucrative marketing deals with betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings and recent incidents have highlighted issues.
Japan captain Mai Yanagida bats against Hong Kong during the women's Sano City International Trophy cricket tournament on June 4 in Sano, Tochigi Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Cricket
Jun 15, 2025

From samurai threat to Asian Games as Japan cricket fights obscurity

Japan's cricket association says the sport is slowly gaining popularity and hopes next year's home Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics can take it to a new level.
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.

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