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May 05, 2024
 

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BASEBALL

Japanese Baseball

MLB
Japanese Baseball
The Lions' Yuji Kaneko hit .219 in the team's first 25 games of the season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Lions muzzled by poor performance at plate
The record will show the Seibu Lions lost to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on Sunday after a 2-2 slider from Jefry Yan got away from catcher Takeru Furuichi as Riku Ogata raced home to score the walk-off run in the 12th inning of a 3-2 Hawks win.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Pacific League pennant set to be tight race as Buffaloes chase dynasty in 2024
The Buffaloes path to a fourth straight title is fraught with peril as the Hawks gather their forces for a renewed push for the PL crown.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Tigers remain the Central League's team to beat as rival Giants loom
While Hanshin may be favored to repeat, the rest of the league will be waiting to pounce should the Kansai club falter.
Lotte Marines manager Masato Yoshii (left) watches as ace pitcher Roki Sasaki throws in spring training in Ishigaki, Okinawa, in February 2023.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 12, 2024
Lotte Marines manager touts benefits of higher learning
By Jim Allen
After a 24-year pro career, the former player went to university to study coaching theory.
Former Orix Buffaloes pitcher Alessandro Maestri during an online interview on Feb. 18
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 4, 2024
Ex-Buffalo Maestri guides younger players in Japan return
By Jim Allen
Maestri is hopeful that nsome players he is coaching will also find their way to pro baseball in Japan.
When Fighters interpreter Shinju Sakuma set her mind on becoming a language liaison in sports, she picked a sport she enjoyed watching and an employer who thinks outside the box.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 26, 2024
Rookie female interpreter provides voice for foreign baseball stars in Japan
By Mai Yoshikawa
Shinju Sakuma, who will graduate from Rikkyo University in Tokyo this spring, is believed to be the first female interpreter in NPB history.
Former Giants star Hideki Matsui watches Yuto Akihiro take batting practice at the team's spring camp in Miyazaki on Saturday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Feb 15, 2024
Giants' new Godzilla Yuto Akihiro taps into Hideki Matsui's teachings to level up
By Jason Coskrey
Akihiro is the latest player to try and walk in Matsui's footsteps.
Outfielder Yutaro Sugimoto (center, right) and other members of the Buffaloes move through a huge crowd of fans in Miyazaki on Sunday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 14, 2024
Buffaloes drawing record camp crowd amid recent run of success
The Pacific League club is also holding joint fundraising activities with the Zweigen Kanazawa soccer club to support quake-hit Ishikawa.
Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami takes a swing during batting practice earlier this month.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 11, 2024
Swallows' Murakami aims for second Triple Crown and team rebound
The young slugger struggled last year and the Swallows followed suit by sinking to fifth place in the Central League.
The Marines' Roki Sasaki pitches in the bullpen during spring camp in Okinawa on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Feb 9, 2024
Roki Sasaki gets back to business after weeks of speculation about future
By Jason Coskrey
After weeks of rampant rumors, the "Monster of the Reiwa Era" is back to the business of baseball, and the MLB questions are back on the shelf for now.

With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass
Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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