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 Kaz Nagatsuka

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Kaz Nagatsuka
Kaz Nagatsuka is a staff writer covering Japanese sports, including Japanese professional baseball, basketball, American football and individual sports. He has covered big sporting events such as the World Baseball Classic, the NFL Super Bowl and soccer's World Cup.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 7, 2017
Sunflowers pound Antelopes in All-Japan Championship semifinals
The JX-Eneos Sunflowers, the perennial winners of the Japanese women's basketball, dominated the game from start to finish in a 72-52 win over the Toyota Motors Antelopes in the semifinals of the annual All-Japan Championship at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on Saturday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GEARING UP FOR THE GAMES,GEARING UP FOR THE GAMES
Jan 4, 2017
Japan's rising sports stars look to raise the bar at Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Setting new records, Japan's Olympians managed to haul in a very respectable 38 medals at the 2012 London Games and 41 last year in Rio de Janeiro. Their efforts are certainly something for the nation's up-and-coming young athletes to duplicate or even surpass, as there are many potential stars out there who could become household names by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics about 3u00bd years from now.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 3, 2017
Kwansei Gakuin can't match Fujitsu's size, strength in Rice Bowl
With 28 Japanese collegiate titles, Kwansei Gakuin University is indisputably the most dominant college football team in this nation's history.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 2, 2017
Taguchi shoulders WBA title, additional responsibility
Ryoichi Taguchi showed up before the media at his Watanabe Gym on Monday with his WBA light flyweight belt draped over shoulder. He described it as "the only positive thing" that happened in his latest fight, against Carlos Canizales on New Year's Eve.
Japan Times
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Dec 31, 2016
Corrales keeps WBA super featherweight crown with split-decision win over Uchiyama
Takashi Uchiyama didn't get his wish.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 30, 2016
Super flyweight Inoue retains world title with sixth-round TKO of Kono
WBO super flyweight champion and Japanese phenom Naoya Inoue had no problem safely extending his title defense streak to four, defeating ex-WBA champ and compatriot Kohei Kono with a sixth-round technical knockout in a year-end boxing show at Ariake Colosseum on Friday.
Japan Times
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Dec 29, 2016
'Knockout Dynamite' Uchiyama seeking payback in rematch against Corrales
He knows it sounded weird, but Takashi Uchiyama said he's spent significant time in training since he took his first professional loss to Jezreel Corrales earlier this year.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 28, 2016
Hard-working Tokashiki keeps sights set on ultimate goal
Unlike for other players, the start of the 2016-17 Women's Japan Basketball League season didn't necessarily represent a fresh start for Jx-Eneos Sunflowers star player Ramu Tokashiki.
BASKETBALL / B. League
Dec 22, 2016
Former Laker Sacre set to join Sunrockers
Ex-Los Angeles Lakers center Robert Sacre will join the B. League's Sunrockers Shibuya, a basketball insider told The Japan Times.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Dec 21, 2016
Samurai Japan adds Astros' Aoki to WBC roster
Houston Astros outfielder Norichika Aoki has been added to the Samurai Japan roster for next spring's World Baseball Classic, the team announced on Wednesday.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 20, 2016
Fighters superstar Otani receives top prize at Japan Professional Sports Awards extravaganza
Baseball sensation Shohei Otani, one of the brightest stars of the nation’s sporting scene in 2016, was the recipient of the grand prize at the annual Japan Professional Sports Awards at a Tokyo hotel on Tuesday.
Japan Times
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Dec 19, 2016
Olympic silver medal-winning relay team picks up Athlete of the Year award
The team of Aska Cambridge, Yoshihide Kiryu, Ryota Yamagata and Shota Iizuka, which stunned the world by capturing the silver medal in the men's 4x100-meter relay at this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics, received the Athlete of the Year award at the annual Athletic Award ceremony hosted by the Japan...
Japan Times
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Dec 14, 2016
Fujitsu QB Cameron gains redemption with Japan X Bowl triumph
Despite being in the X League championship game for a fourth straight season, the Fujitsu Frontiers and ace quarterback Colby Cameron entered this year's contest with a chip on their shoulders.
Japan Times
Rugby
Dec 12, 2016
Sunwolves name squad for second Super Rugby campaign
Japan's Sunwolves endured a rocky debut season in Super Rugby, posting only one win. As they head into their second campaign, the Sunwolves' see the glass as half-full, because the only way left to go is up.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 7, 2016
JBA hopeful new plan helps strengthen men's national team
The Japan Basketball Association recently announced plans to hold training camps more often as it becomes more serious, and desperate, about developing the men’s national team ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Dec 2, 2016
Childress trying to get up to speed with NeoPhoenix
The San-en NeoPhoenix's recent acquisition of former NBA player Josh Childress came as a surprise near the middle of the inaugural B. League season.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 1, 2016
Japan Basketball Association dismisses men's national team coach Hasegawa
Since his appointment two years ago, Kenji Hasegawa has firmly developed the Japan men's national team.
Japan Times
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Dec 1, 2016
Murata keeps focus on upcoming bout, aims to secure title shot
Middleweight boxer Ryota Murata will join other Japanese star fighters in a Dec. 30 event at Ariake Colosseum, where he will take on Mexico's Bruno Sandoval, Teiken Gym announced on Thursday.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 29, 2016
Otani, Arai win MVP awards
Shohei Otani's historic season of rewriting the record books and challenging conventional baseball wisdom reached its logical conclusion on Monday night.
Japan Times
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Nov 27, 2016
Game-winning field goal sends Frontiers to X Bowl
Fujitsu kicker Hidetetsu Nishimura nailed a game-winning 45-yard field goal as time expired to help the Frontiers book a spot in the Japan X Bowl for the fourth consecutive year with a 28-26 win over the IBM Big Blue in the X League playoff semifinals at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki on Sunday afternoon.

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