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April 24, 2025
 

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NPB NOTEBOOK

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 22, 2013
Home run king Balentien nearing another conquest
Wladimir Balentien has hit more home runs than any NPB player has ever hit in a single season and through Sunday had 13 games left to add to his record total which stood at 58.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Aug 4, 2013
Fighters pitcher Wolfe not ready to give up on season
Brian Wolfe's confidence is not shaken.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jun 21, 2013
Lefty starter Kikuchi thriving for Lions
Yusei Kikuchi is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Seibu Lions Friday night against the Orix Buffaloes as Japanese baseball gets back to intraleague competition this weekend.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 11, 2013
Tigers continue early-season mastery of Giants
To say the Hanshin Tigers have been successful against the Yomiuri Giants is a somewhat of a misnomer. It's probably more accurate to say the Tigers have owned the Giants in the early part of the season. Refer to the 2004 ALCS when Boston Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez remarked, "I just tip my hat and call...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 12, 2013
Morgan hopes to aid BayStars' climb out of CL cellar
There are so many written and unwritten rules around baseball that sometimes people in the sport tend to take things a little too seriously.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 6, 2013
Giants hope Bowker, Lopez end foreign scouting drought
The last 'homegrown' foreign player to make any major impact for the Yomiuri Giants was volatile pitcher Balvino Galvez, whose reign of terror lasted from 1996-2000.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 24, 2013
Trading four-time All-Star Itoi doesn't make sense for Fighters
So why did the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters trade away arguably the best player on their team, if not in the entire Pacific League?
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 27, 2012
Yoshikawa's MVP award puts pitcher in elite company
Last week, pitcher Mitsuo Yoshikawa became the first Pacific League MVP winner from the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters since 2009.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 11, 2012
WBC squad may be hurting for top-line pitching
Japan manager Koji Yamamoto said his World Baseball Classic team would mirror previous Japan squads and be built around pitching and defense.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 2, 2012
Yoh motivated by possibility of trip to Busan
Stretching on the field hours before Thursday's Game 5 of the Japan Series, Hokkaido Nippon Ham outfielder Daikan Yoh smilingly said that he hoped to go to South Korea.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 1, 2012
Former boxer Sugiya not interested in watching son, Fighters at ballpark
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters youngster Kenshi Sugiya and his father, Mitsuru, are a unique father-son tandem. Both of them have been professional athletes.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 31, 2012
Giants on both sides of Pacific stand tall together
You could call it a coincidence, but going into Game 3 of the Japan Series on Tuesday there was a chance something uncanny could happen in baseball on both sides of the Pacific.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 29, 2012
Fighters skipper Kuriyama maintains light mood after opening setback
Despite a lopsided 8-1 loss to the Yomiuri Giants in Game 1 of the Japan Series, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Hideki Kuriyama came out in front of the media throng in a cheerful mode before Sunday's Game 2 at Tokyo Dome.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 28, 2012
Murata enjoying first playoff appearance
Perhaps Shuichi Murata is the one who's psyched up the most on the 21-time NPB champion Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Sep 24, 2012
Race for Pacific League crown likely going down to wire
The Yomiuri Giants wrapped up the Central League pennant last week.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jul 8, 2012
Balentien having a blast during second season in Japan
Wladimir Balentien's cousins began calling him "Coco" when he was 4-years old, because it was easier to say than his name, and the moniker stuck.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jul 2, 2012
Blanco has last laugh, garners CL All-Star nod
After last season's Japan Series, there were questions about whether or not Tony Blanco would be back with the Chunichi Dragons this year. When the club signed veteran first baseman Takeshi Yamasaki, who spent years starring for other teams after coming up in the Dragons' system, many wondered how much...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2012
Sugiuchi usually at his best in month of May
Toshiya Sugiuchi is a former Pacific League MVP and Sawamura award winner and has been among NPB's elite pitchers for years.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 12, 2012
Overuse could be a factor in Asao's drop in efficiency this season
Chunichi Dragons reliever Takuya Asao gave up an earned run against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows during the eighth inning of Thursday's game at Nagoya Dome.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Apr 16, 2012
No changes to draft, posting system forthcoming says NPB commissioner
In October the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pulled off a minor shocker by drafting highly-touted Tokai University pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano.
Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows
The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Jetstar Japan fined for failing to provide adequate cabin crew breaks
The logo of Jetstar Airways on an aircraft parked outside a maintenance hangar in Melbourne, Australia, on Feb. 27.
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
The floor is art: Takuro Tamayama transforms mundanity
Takuro Tamayama’s sculpture “Models (Pair, 6 sets, 12 rings)” comes with a mathematical formation that scales it for different spaces.
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
Calling all Potterheads: ‘The Goblet of Fire’ comes to Tokyo
The Tokyo version of the globe-trotting exhibition features a Ministry of Magic set, which includes an imposing replica of the Magic Is Might monument representing magical fascism.

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