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July 13, 2025
 

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BASEBALL

The Japan Fair Trade Commission said that moves by Nippon Professional Baseball could violate the antimonopoly law, and urged the organization to prevent any recurrence.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2025
Japan Fair Trade Commission warns NPB over Fuji TV media pass denial
The antitrust watchdog said that such moves could violate the antimonopoly law, urging NPB to prevent any recurrence.
A special manhole cover featuring Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2025
Japanese MLB stars to be featured on manhole covers
Each manhole cover will have an illustration of a Japanese player and be located at a place associated with his roots in baseball.
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.
BASEBALL
May 15, 2025
Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan
The widely held belief is that American Horace Wilson introduced the sport to Japan in 1872. Fitts' discovery revises the timeline to 1869.
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Citi Field in New York on Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 20, 2025
Kodai Senga and Pete Alonso lead Mets past Cardinals
Senga (3-1) allowed just three hits, walked two and fanned four in an 89-pitch performance.
Katsuhiko Nakamura, secretary-general of the NPB, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025
NPB teams to fine 16 players for using online casinos
The fines will be donated to organizations working to combat gambling addiction.
Shohei Ohtani gets a kiss from his dog Decoy at a game in August 2024. The Japanese slugger-pitcher’s return to his country to kick off the Major League Baseball season has sparked immense excitement, highlighting his unparalleled career and symbolic role as a national hero.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025
Superstar Shohei Ohtani for prime minister
He’s unavoidable in Japan: His face adorns ads for cosmetics, mattresses, English conversation schools and, most recently, convenience store rice balls.
The Nippon Professional Baseball Organization revealed on Thursday that 14 people from seven teams had patronized online casinos after February 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2025
14 people from seven NPB teams admit to patronizing online casinos
The voluntary admission of the 14, who include players and team officials, follows an announcement by Orix Buffaloes that its pitcher took part in an online poker tournament.
Tsuneo Watanabe (center) attends a gathering with former prime ministers Yasuhiro Nakasone (right) and Toshiki Kaifu in Tokyo in 2009.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 19, 2024
Tsuneo Watanabe, editor-in-chief of Yomiuri Shimbun Group, dies at 98
Watanabe was an influential figure in Japan's political and professional sports arenas.
Masayoshi Son (front, center) poses with the members of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks after the team won the Pacific League championship at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sept. 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 18, 2024
Masayoshi Son’s aim for SoftBank Hawks remains, 20 years after buyout
This year, the team became Pacific League champions for the first time in four years. But its owner has loftier goals.
Players gather for a baseball game at an unearthed and restored baseball field that had not seen a competition in 75 years, at the site of a Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, on Oct. 28.
JAPAN / History
Nov 4, 2024
In an internment camp, all they had was baseball. They’re back to play.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, baseball was a source of connection between Japan and the United States.
Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada won the outstanding lead actress and actor awards in a drama series, respectively, for "Shogun" at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 15.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2024
'Peak Japan' is now, so seize the moment, Japan
Japan has never been hotter! Japan is the number one country in the world right now, as voted on by everyone else except for the Japanese.
Japanese fans are signing up for expensive travel packages to watch the World Series, which will see the Los Angeles Dodgers — including Japanese players Yoshinobu Yamamoto (center) and Shohei Ohtani (right) — take on the New York Yankees.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024
World Series sparks travel frenzy among fans in Japan
Travel agencies are having a hard time keeping up with demand from baseball fans fired up by “Ohtanimania.”
Shohei Ohtani's success symbolizes a broader resurgence in Japanese sports, with contributing factors including increased investment in sports, modern coaching techniques and a generational shift in mindset.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 11, 2024
What baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s success says about Japan
The phenom has had what many are calling the greatest season ever. But his success is also a story of change in his home country.
To preserve the integrity of the game in the legalized gambling era, Major League Baseball must double down and maintain its now posthumous ban on Pete Rose.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024
Pete Rose fans are wrong: He's not worthy of the Hall of Fame
Backing down would undermine the league’s zero-tolerance stance and signal that "permanently ineligible" isn't always permanent.
The Fair Trade Commission says rules preventing pro baseball players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2024
Japan FTC warns pro baseball body over agent rules
The body's rules have limited agents for players to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers who had already been picked by other players.
Kyoto International High Shool's baseball team receives a champion flag after winning the Japanese High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture on Aug. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2024
A high school baseball championship and Japan-South Korea relations
The reactions to Kyoto International High School winning the National High School Baseball Championship, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing.
Kyoto International High School players react after their win over Kanto Daiichi High School in the National High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Friday.
BASEBALL
Aug 23, 2024
Underdog Kyoto International High School wins Summer Koshien crown
Kyoto International High School defeated Tokyo’s Kanto Daiichi High School in extra innings.
An ultrasonographic checkup to detect Little League elbow (top). The image on the bottom left shows a healthy elbow while an arrow on the bottom right image shows damage.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 6, 2024
Japanese team develops AI program to detect Little League elbow
The researchers aim to develop diagnostic equipment using an AI program for practical use in about a year.
Tokyo police have arrested a 27-year-old woman for posting online personal information of a professional baseball player along with violent messages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2024
Ex-Nippon Life staffer arrested over leak of Giants player's information
The suspect, Satomi Amano, has denied the charges, claiming she doesn't remember her actions due to having made “so many posts.”
Members of Onomichi High School's baseball team (back) have longer hair than members of teams that stick to traditional buzz cuts.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 1, 2024
High school baseball gets a makeover as buzz cut rules are no more
What was once seen as a symbol of fighting spirit is getting a rethink as coaches try to be mindful of students' mental states and preferences.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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