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November 22, 2024
 

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Wayne Graczyk
Wayne Graczyk has written the "Baseball Bullet-In" column in The Japan Times since 1976. A native of New Jersey, he came to Japan in 1969 with the U.S. Air Force and is a 1977 graduate of Tokyo's Sophia University. Wayne was the long-time (1977-2004) sports editor of the Tokyo Weekender newspaper, he covers Yomiuri Giants baseball games for Nippon TV and, since 1976, he has compiled the Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide. He is a member of the Tokyo Sportswriters Club and the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan. Notice Wayne Graczyk, the baseball columnist for The Japan Times for the past 40 years, passed away at the age of 68 on April 19. His final column was posted on April 8. Readers can continue to access his coverage of Japanese baseball through the online archives.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 28, 2010
NPB looks to trim deficit by having third All-Star Game
You no doubt saw the news item whereby the Nippon Professional Baseball authorities are asking the Japanese players union to have a third All-Star game in 2011, in order to blot a portion of its reported ¥60 million of red ink. Two All-Star games are scheduled so far next season: at Nagoya Dome July...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 21, 2010
Iwakuma posting cash could help Eagles rebuild
The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles may be losing their best pitcher, but the posting money the Pacific League club may receive from the Oakland Athletics for the rights to negotiate with ace right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma would give them a lot of pocket money to spend on available free agents set to leave...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 14, 2010
TBS demands over sale of BayStars unreasonable
It was kind of a shocker to hear the news on Oct. 28 that the sale of the Yokohama BayStars franchise was not going through. The transfer of ownership had been anticipated for more than a month, and the talks between the potential buyer (JS Inc.) and the seller (TBS) appeared to be in the final stages....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 27, 2010
Playoff jinx bedevils Fukuoka faithful once again
The team colors are yellow and black, but the adopted color is red and, when the final out was recorded of the Pacific League Climax Series last week, Fukuoka fans were blue-shocking blue. Their team had just completed a stunning collapse after it appeared headed for its first Japan Series appearance...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 20, 2010
Time for Central League to adopt designated hitter
As the 2010 Japan pro baseball season draws to a close with its Climax and Japan Series, the thought occurred to me that maybe it is time for the Central League to join its Pacific League cousins and include the designated hitter rule in its games for next season.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 10, 2010
NPB news should be plentiful after playoffs finish up
Every year about this time, I am usually asked two questions about the off-season.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 3, 2010
Yokohama farm team will revert to using 'BayStars'
The current era of American managers in Japan has come to an end with Marty Brown out as skipper of the Rakuten Eagles, and another "era" is ending in Japanese baseball with the disbanding of the Shonan Searex.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 26, 2010
Day of reckoning looming for Big Matsui, Little Matsui, Iwamura
Matsui, Matsui and Iwamura.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 19, 2010
Updates on Hillman, BayStars, Niigata's bid for team
We are taking a look this week at topics covered in this column at various times throughout the 2010 season, and updating them to see what, if any, progress has been made.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 12, 2010
Retro uniforms not a good fit in record summer heat
From the e-mail box this week comes a request from Mike Berger of Tokyo who wrote, "I would love to read about the retro uniforms we've been seeing in Japan pro ball recently. What's the history behind those white Giants uniforms, and how about the ugly black togs of the Tigers? Something from the 1930s?"...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 5, 2010
Scully set to carry on for 62nd season with Dodgers
Baseball news reports last week indicated Los Angeles Dodgers legendary play-by-play announcer Vin Scully has decided to return for another year behind the microphone in 2011. The 82-year-old Hall of Famer will be in his 62nd season calling Dodgers games in a career that goes back to seven years before...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 22, 2010
'Field of Screams' book includes chapter on Japan
From the authors of "Haunted Baseball" we have what is essentially a Volume 2 of that book. Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon have come out with "Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room and Beyond."
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 15, 2010
Japan's great moments in pro baseball history
The Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner's office on Aug. 9 released the results of its recent survey whereby current players, coaches and managers selected the greatest games and most memorable moments in the 76 years of Japanese professional baseball history.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 8, 2010
Rash of MLB no-hitters recalls NPB gems from past
Much has been reported and written about the year of the no-hitter in Major League Baseball this season, with no less than five thrown in the American and National Leagues in 2010.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 4, 2010
Softbank's Inomoto bids for spot on first team
The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 25, 2010
Death of 'The Boss' huge news in U.S., not in Japan
I'm just back from a summer trip to the United States with time in northern New Jersey, where the big news last week was the death of New York Yankees owner George "The Boss" Steinbrenner on July 13, and the press coverage was extensive.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 18, 2010
No lack of foreign candidates to manage Swallows
It has been reported the Tokyo Yakult Swallows are looking for a former player to take over as manager in 2011, and pitching coach Daisuke Araki, a one-time Yakult pitcher, is the presumed leading candidate to become the next field boss.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 11, 2010
Hanshin's Brazell reminding many of legendary Bass
As Hanshin Tigers first baseman Craig Brazell continues his hot hitting and home run barrage, the Japanese media has begun to compare him to Randy Bass, another lefty-hitting Hanshin first baseman, from 25 years ago.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 4, 2010
Remembering 'baseball ambassador' Cappy Harada
There are many who have tried to bridge the gap between Major League Baseball in North America and the game as it is played in Japan, but perhaps no one has done more for MLB-NPB relations than Tsuneo "Cappy" Harada. He died on June 5 at the age of 88 in California, and his death from heart failure was...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 30, 2010
Recalling happier days between baseball and sumo
Sad, isn't it; what has happened to sumo?
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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