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SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jul 15, 2020

JSA's decision to let fans attend July Basho catches everyone off guard

Few insiders had expected sumo's governing body to allow the public back in so soon.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 10, 2020

Fans welcomed back into NPB stadiums as COVID-19 precautions eased

Masks, physical distancing and refrained celebrations were the order of the day as teams played in front of crowds for the first time this year.
SPORTS
Jun 30, 2020

Expert calls on Japanese sports industry to innovate after pandemic

Managing director of Sports Branding Japan believes leagues and teams must come up with new business models in the wake of the coronavirus.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 22, 2020

NPB and J. League cleared to begin planning for fan-free restart

Medical experts advising the leagues' joint task force indicated cautious optimism in Friday's meeting.
MORE SPORTS
May 11, 2020

NPB, J. League remain in holding pattern after latest task force meeting

A medical panel advised the two circuits to continue to wait before setting firm dates to resume play.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 8, 2020

NPB closes main office, announces further delays to season after emergency declaration

Like many other organizations in Japan, professional baseball is adjusting to the state of emergency declared Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 26, 2020

Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami to have test for coronavirus

Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami will undergo a PCR test for the coronavirus, the team announced on Thursday.
SPORTS
Mar 9, 2020

NPB to delay start of regular season due to ongoing COVID-19 outbreak

Nippon Professional Baseball has made the decision to postpone the start of its regular season as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, the league announced on Monday afternoon.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Mar 2, 2020

NPB clubs keep things normal amid virus fears

The oddest thing about the preseason game the Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Yakult Swallows played at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night — and really the same could be said about all the other games over the weekend too — was the lack of fans.
Japan Times
SPORTS
Mar 2, 2020

NPB and J. League join forces to combat COVID-19

Nippon Professional Baseball and the J. League, two of Japan's biggest professional sports circuits, will form a tag team amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the two entities announced in a Tokyo news conference on Monday.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 29, 2020

Giants and Swallows compete without familiar sights and sounds at ballpark

The return of pro baseball to Tokyo Dome on Saturday night was greeted by a jarring silence.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 11, 2020

Batterymates Katsuya Nomura, Joe Stanka shared special bond decades after playing for Hawks

The ball that brought an end to the 1964 Japan Series between the Nankai Hawks and Hanshin Tigers landed, as so many others had over those seven games, in Hawks catcher Katsuya Nomura's mitt.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 29, 2019

Ryosuke Kikuchi joins list of players to hit wall in posting system

Musing about whether or not certain players will get posted is fairly commonplace in discussions about the top NPB players these days.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 16, 2019

Out of the park: Babe Ruth's 500th home run bat fetches more than $1 million

Babe Ruth may have died more than 70 years ago, but the baseball slugger is still turning out big numbers. The bat he used to hit his 500th home run in 1929 has sold for $1,000,800, officials for SCP Auctions announced on Sunday.
Japan Times
SPORTS
Dec 10, 2019

Ice Bucket Challenge inspiration Pete Frates dead at 34 after bout with ALS

Pete Frates, whose personal battle with the neurodegenerative disease ALS inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign that raised millions of dollars for medical research, died on Monday aged 34, seven years after his diagnosis, Boston College said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Dec 6, 2019

Girls revive previously male-dominated cheering squads

Typical cheerleading clubs in schools, known as ōendan, consist of men clad in black gakuran stand-up collar uniforms yelling vigorously and performing synchronized, dynamic choreographed moves to support sports teams.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2019

Babe poised to hit another out of the park as historic 'Sultan of Swat' 500th homer bat goes on block

Babe Ruth is poised to hit another home run, only this time on the sports memorabilia market when the bat he used to slug No. 500 nearly a century ago hits the auction block on Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2019

Pope Francis says in Nagasaki speech money used for nuclear weapons better spent on eradicating poverty

Pope Francis strongly criticizes the concept of nuclear deterrence and warned of arms races while calling on world leaders to instead use money and resources to cope with environmental issues and poverty.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 18, 2019

Japan digs deep to win Premier12

Samurai Japan finished its Premier12 campaign in successful fashion on Sunday night with a 5-3 victory over South Korea in the gold medal game at Tokyo Dome.

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?