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December 22, 2024
 

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David Picker
BASEBALL / MLB
May 9, 2002
Half-Japanese Dodger making name in L.A.
CHICAGO -- Want to stump your know-it-all boss or neighbor with a good baseball question?
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 28, 2002
Shinjo-mania begins to wear thin with Giants teammates
CHICAGO -- When the San Francisco Giants arrived at Wrigley Field on Tuesday for a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, Tsuyoshi Shinjo was batting a depressing .168. Considering how much attention he was receiving from the Japanese media, you'd think he was batting 1.000.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 17, 2002
Go west AND east, young men
In the good old days, Japanese baseball players used to dream about going to the major leagues. Now they just dream about playing on the West Coast.
SUMO
Jan 11, 2002
Konishiki making impact after sumo
Hollywood, home to some of the biggest stars on earth, soon may have to make room for the biggest star of all. Former sumo wrestler Konishiki on Thursday revealed his plans to make it big in Tinseltown.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 29, 2001
Japanese fans headed for a World Cup headache
The crosstown trip from my office in central Tokyo to National Stadium is a breeze. On Tuesday night it took 35 minutes, and I arrived in time to see the Toyota Cup kick off.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 26, 2001
Swallows claim fifth Japan Series
The Yakult Swallows flew off with their fifth championship on Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2001
Swallows a win away from fifth Series title
The big guns drew blanks for the Yakult Swallows on Wednesday, but a role player picked up the slack.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 25, 2001
And the AL MVP winner is . . .
Forget about the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Ichiro Suzuki bagged that puppy back in May with a 23-game hitting streak. The million-dollar question is: Who will win the AL MVP Award? Ichiro has a shot at becoming the first rookie since Fred Lynn in 1975 to garner the honor.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2001
Swallowed up by a passion for baseball
"Spurred on by energetic cheerleaders and the pounding rhythm of taiko drums, horns, whistles and other noisemakers, (the typical Japanese fan) becomes a veritable wildman, yelling and screaming nonstop for nine solid innings." -- Robert Whiting, "You Gotta Have Wa"
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2001
Hewitt takes AIG Japan Open
Another tournament, another title for Lleyton Hewitt. The top-seeded Australian beat Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 to win the AIG Japan Open at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 27, 2001
Buffaloes clinch pennant in grand style
Pinch-hitter Hirotoshi Kitagawa crushed a "sayonara" grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, giving the Kintetsu Buffaloes their first Pacific League crown in 12 years.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 17, 2001
Fans seek distraction at Fighters-M's game
Sunday was supposed to be Yankees Day at the Tokyo Dome. The American national anthem was supposed to be played by a U.S. military band. Public address announcements were supposed to be made in English. One fan was even supposed to win a round-trip airline ticket to New York. Out of respect to those...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 13, 2001
How many Rhodes must a man walk down before he gets some attention in the dailies?
I had the pleasure last week of meeting Tokyo's most talkative taxi driver. He picked me up in Shibuya and dropped me off in Roppongi some 15 minutes later. In that time we talked baseball nonstop with the Giants-Carp game humming in the background.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 23, 2001
Petagine ignites 23-hit attack as CL All-Stars square series
YOKOHAMA -- Pitching a professional baseball game in Yokohama Stadium has always been Daisuke Matsuzaka's dream. It came true on Sunday night during Game 2 of the 2001 Sanyo All-Star Series. By the third inning, however, it turned into a nightmare.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 5, 2001
A vote of confidence for MLB balloting
Kudos to Ichiro Suzuki. The Seattle Mariners right fielder was recently selected by fans to start the 50th All-Star Game in the Emerald City next week. Not only did he lead the majors with 3,373,035 votes, he becomes only the 13th position player in league history to start the mid-season classic as a...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 24, 2001
Perez is talking the talk in Japan
All it took for Eduardo Perez to learn the names of his Hanshin Tigers teammates was one embarrassing moment.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 19, 2001
Here's why MJ will stay away
Michael Jordan is "99.9 percent sure" he won't return to the NBA. I can do one-tenth better: I'm 100 percent.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 23, 2001
Giants' Maru-chan talks softly and carries a big stick
No one would've blamed Domingo Martinez if he never returned to Japan after the 1998 baseball season. After hitting .283 and smacking 30 home runs for the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions that year, the designated hitter wasn't given a gold watch or even a thank-you note for his efforts. Instead he...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 22, 2001
What's in store for the third Musketeer?
By now Ichiro Suzuki is making a name for himself in America. The only question is what that name is. When The Associated Press and some other news organizations report on the former Orix BlueWave star, they refer to a player named "Suzuki." But back here in Japan he's always been known as "Ichiro."...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 8, 2001
Ichiro deserves a break today
Ichiro Suzuki is a beef tongue enthusiast. He likes it so much that the owner of a Japanese grocery store in Seattle is stocking up on the tasty treat. In fact, Ichiro recently gave the proprietor a list of his favorite Japanese delicacies. Soon the major leaguer will be drinking Pocari Sweat, chewing...
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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