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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
Aug 3, 2008
Clubs take advantage of extended deadline to sign new foreigners
The deadline for signing new foreign players by Japanese teams was extended from June 30 to July 31 this year because of the Beijing Summer Olympics.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 27, 2008
Nomo's MLB heroics rekindle memories of chaotic, unforgettable 1995
Much has been written about ex-major league pitcher Hideo Nomo during the 10 days since he announced his retirement as an active player on July 17.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 20, 2008
Writer takes memorable trip to Victor Starfin Stadium in Asahikawa
ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido — Last week I had the pleasure of attending a regular-season baseball game in the central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa, as the Yomiuri Giants played the Chunichi Dragons at the 25,000-seat Victor Starfin Stadium. It was the first appearance by the Giants in 16 years at the ballpark...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 13, 2008
Royals skipper Hillman fondly recalls time spent with Fighters
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This week I would like to wrap up the comments of Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman with whom I visited last month at Kaufmann Stadium in Missouri.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 6, 2008
Hillman aims for Sapporo-like success in K.C.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last November at his sayonara party in Tokyo, I semi-promised outgoing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman I would travel to Kansas City in 2008 to see him in action as skipper of the American League Royals. Last month, I made good on that promise.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 22, 2008
Countryside games offer charming change of pace
FUKUSHIMA — I am writing this column on June 17 at the Yomiuri Giants-Orix Buffaloes interleague game at Azuma Stadium in Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo. It is one of seven regular-season games the Giants will have played this year at countryside ballparks, and have you ever wondered why they...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 15, 2008
Graman just one of many leaders for resurgent Lions
The Seibu Lions "sugoi dasen" (spectacular hitting lineup) is getting most of the ink and most of the credit for the team's surge from an also-ran "B Class" standing in 2007 to compiling the best record in the Pacific League, as we approach the halfway point in the 2008 Japan pro baseball season.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 8, 2008
Eagle takes a wrong turn, but will Golden Eagles remain on course?
"Match" is a Chilean blue eagle who lives at Nasu Animal Kingdom in Tochigi Prefecture. He sometimes shows up at Kleenex Stadium Miyagi to appear at Rakuten Eagles home games where he goes to entertain the fans with a pregame flight that is supposed to take him from the center-field back screen to home...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 1, 2008
MLB's greatest finishes, memorable moments chronicled in new book
I received a new book this week titled "Walkoffs, Last Licks and Final Outs," written by Bill Chuck and Jim Kaplan. The sub-title is "Baseball's Grand (and not-so-grand) Finales," and the foreword is by Jon Miller, the popular play-by-play broadcaster who does "Sunday Night Baseball" with Joe Morgan...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 25, 2008
Carp need more production from Kurihara
Kenta Kurihara is somewhat disappointed in his statistics so far this season, and a bit embarrassed as well.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 18, 2008
Foreigners have never caught on as backstops in Japan pro ball
Reader Jim Gallagher from New Jersey wrote, "I was watching on TV (Kenji) Johjima catching for the Seattle Mariners and wondered if there has ever been a gaikokujin catcher to play in Japan. I can't think of one. Is this the last barrier to be broken?"
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 11, 2008
Minchey comes back to Japan as scout for Indians
One-time Hiroshima Carp and Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Nate Minchey was back in the country this week in his current capacity as a scout for the Cleveland Indians.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 4, 2008
Golden Week offers a bonanza for Japanese baseball teams, fans
Japanese baseball would not have any attendance problems if every week was Golden Week.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 27, 2008
Versatility gives veteran Gonzalez solid opportunity with Giants
Yomiuri Giants utility man Luis Gonzalez is determined to take advantage of his opportunity to play for the club's varsity team after replacing slumping Korean first baseman Lee Seung Yeop, as Kyojin manager Tatsunori Hara plays the up-and-down yo-yo game with respect to Japanese baseball's four-man...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 20, 2008
Uehara turns up pressure on self with MLB talk
Yomiuri Giants ace Koji Uehara may be putting too much pressure on himself after announcing on April 7 he will definitely exercise his right to free agency at the end of the current season and look to play in the major leagues in 2009.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 13, 2008
Early results not always a barometer for final standings
American baseball agent Alan Nero tells the story of his client, Randy Johnson, who thought he was going to the World Series when he joined the New York Yankees in 2005. The "Big Unit" figured he would help bolster the pitching staff of that powerhouse club and it would breeze to the championship.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 6, 2008
NPB trying to speed up play in effort to shorten games
Japanese baseball has been known for long, drawn-out games, and it is rare when you see a final score accomplished in less than three hours of play.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 23, 2008
Time for facts, trivia about MLB games in Japan
Keep your eyes on the players participating for the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics in this week's exhibitions and regular-season American League games at Tokyo Dome. Someone from those rosters will come back to play for a Japanese team, and you can take that to the bank.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 16, 2008
Jingu Stadium gets long overdue face-lift; Kaneda stops by
Have you been to an exhibition game yet this year at Jingu Stadium?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 9, 2008
Will 2008 season be as magical as 1964 campaign was?
Will the 2008 Japan pro baseball season, I wonder, be anything like 1964?
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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