Kaz Nagatsuka - The Japan Times

November 23, 2024

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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

MORE SPORTS

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

MORE SPORTS

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

MORE SPORTS

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

MORE SPORTS

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

MORE SPORTS

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

MORE SPORTS

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....

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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