Jason Coskrey - The Japan Times

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Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey

Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Japan Times

OLYMPICS

May 12, 2020

Several Tokyo 2020 merchandise shops to close across country

Despite the closings, organizers have vowed to keep their target of u00a514 billion in merchandise revenue in place.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Apr 28, 2020

NPB shutdown robs fans of limited chances to see aging legends

With the delayed season expected to start behind closed doors, it's unclear when Japanese baseball's elder statesmen will receive cheers from packed stands again.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Apr 16, 2020

NPB still in limbo as CPBL, KBO get ready to play ball

Baseball is slowly returning to Asia amid the coronavirus pandemic

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Apr 8, 2020

NPB closes main office, announces further delays to season after emergency declaration

Like many other organizations in Japan, professional baseball is adjusting to the state of emergency declared Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Apr 4, 2020

NPB has to be flexible in approach to opening day

Former NPB Commissioner Ryozo Kato used to joke that Japanese baseball was similar to a large boat in the middle of the ocean.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Mar 27, 2020

Hanshin's Shintaro Fujinami one of three Tigers to test positive for coronavirus

The coronavirus crisis has reached Japanese baseball, with the Hanshin Tigers announcing Friday three players had tested positive for the virus.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Mar 26, 2020

Olympic delay could send Samurai Japan back to drawing board

One of the common threads in the comments from many of Japan’s top players before spring training was about how much each was motivated by the prospect of trying to win gold on home soil during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Mar 26, 2020

Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami to have test for coronavirus

Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami will undergo a PCR test for the coronavirus, the team announced on Thursday.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Mar 22, 2020

BayStars manager Alex Ramirez wants more from rookie pitcher Yuya Sakamoto

One of the biggest adjustments Yokohama BayStars rookie pitcher Yuya Sakamoto made on Saturday was wearing a hat one size smaller than usual.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Mar 17, 2020

Giants manager Tatsunori Hara not panicking about team's poor performance in spring training

There are a few trains of thought about spring training. One of the most prevalent, is that it doesn't matter.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Mar 16, 2020

Hideaki Wakui, Yuki Matsui key to Eagles' attack on mound

Hideaki Wakui gave himself a passing grade following his start against the Yomiuri Giants on Sunday, the final scheduled day of preseason games in Japanese baseball.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Mar 12, 2020

Tigers hurler Yuki Nishi, pitching counterparts practice patience for start of season

Handing the ball to Yuki Nishi to start the season was probably a no-brainer for the Hanshin Tigers.

Japan Times

PODCAST / deep dive

Mar 11, 2020

Episode 42: Will the coronavirus cancel the Tokyo Olympics?

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are set to start on July 24, bringing millions of fans and tens of thousands of athletes and support staff from around the world to Japan. Or that’s how the story is supposed to go. Now with the global coronavirus outbreak, there are serious concerns that the games will...

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Mar 10, 2020

BayStars, Tigers managers react to NPB's decision to push back start of season

The fog of uncertainty surrounding the NPB season hung just as think in the air at Yokohama Stadium as the gray clouds that hovered above the ballpark on Tuesday morning.

Japan Times

OLYMPICS

Mar 6, 2020

Organizers manage to hold sport climbing test event without athletes

The Ready Steady Tokyo sport climbing event had a wall, music, PA announcers and even a famous spectator.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Mar 2, 2020

NPB clubs keep things normal amid virus fears

The oddest thing about the preseason game the Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Yakult Swallows played at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night — and really the same could be said about all the other games over the weekend too — was the lack of fans.

Japan Times

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Feb 29, 2020

Giants and Swallows compete without familiar sights and sounds at ballpark

The return of pro baseball to Tokyo Dome on Saturday night was greeted by a jarring silence.

Japan Times

Figure Skating

Feb 21, 2020

Evan Lysacek revels in power of sports to connect people

Evan Lysacek glided across the ice so effortlessly you could forget he was doing it on a bum ankle.

Japan Times

OLYMPICS

Feb 19, 2020

U.S. track great DeeDee Trotter motivates junior high school students

Olympic gold medalist DeeDee Trotter has enough energy to warm up a room. Even a chilly gymnasium in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward.

Japan Times

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts

Feb 11, 2020

Batterymates Katsuya Nomura, Joe Stanka shared special bond decades after playing for Hawks

The ball that brought an end to the 1964 Japan Series between the Nankai Hawks and Hanshin Tigers landed, as so many others had over those seven games, in Hawks catcher Katsuya Nomura's mitt.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

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