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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.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 17, 2007
Frontiers' Brennan embraces life in Japan
KAWASAKI — Like a ball rolling on the field, a football player's future is never predictable.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 16, 2007
Confidence helps Yonamine elevate game for HeatDevils
The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which has entered its third season. Tsubasa Yonamine of the Oita HeatDevils is the subject of this week's profile.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Nov 18, 2007
Takushi yearns to make impact
The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which has entered its third season. Naoto Takushi of the expansion Ryukyu Golden Kings is the subject of this week's profile.
BASKETBALL
Nov 15, 2007
Hokkaido residents embrace new pro basketball team
SAPPORO — It wasn't until recent years that Hokkaido was believed to be a place that wouldn't come into being, mainly because of the far, isolated location from the mainland of Japan — Tokyo particularly — and its chillier climate.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 8, 2007
Chunichi begins preparations for Konami Cup Asia Series
The Chunichi Dragons, who ended their 53-year NPB title drought by winning the Japan Series last week, went through a casual workout at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the Konami Cup Asia Series 2007, which begins on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 1, 2007
Fighters help to put smile on fan's face
SAPPORO — Takako Miura says she beats her two plastic sticks together so hard when rooting for her beloved Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters that she almost breaks them.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 30, 2007
Fighters coach Shirai stays focused on next game, not Game 2 loss
SAPPORO — The series is only tied at 1-1. But the Fighters have seriously got to find a way to play their trademark brand of ball.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 29, 2007
Cool customer: Seguignol keeps composed, produces in big games
SAPPORO — Channeling his anger into production, that's what Fernando Seguignol exhibited in his first at-bat of the 2007 Japan Series.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Oct 28, 2007
Kawachi confident as bj-league begins third year
In an exclusive interview with The Japan Times, Toshimitsu Kawachi, the bj-league commissioner, spoke at length about the challenges the third-year league has in achieving long-term success, the structural problems of the Japan Basketball Association (JBA) and his vision for future expansion in the league....
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 28, 2007
Tanishige's hot bat, steady leadership spark Dragons during postseason
SAPPORO — More than a century of postseason baseball has taught us many things, including this somewhat conspicuous lesson: A guy who struggles in the regular season suddenly can delivered a bigger, better effort during the playoffs.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 27, 2007
Inaba embraces playoff pressure
SAPPORO — Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Atsunori Inaba wrapped up his workout and came back to the dugout with a crisp smile on his face, just like he's done all year.
BASKETBALL
Oct 12, 2007
Sea Horses beat Sunrockers in JBL opener
In a sense, it was a typical fashion of basketball. One team build a huge lead early, but the other came back with lots of determination.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 6, 2007
Fans fuel Fighters' bid for another Japan Series
SAPPORO — Forty-two thousand, two hundred and twenty two. That's the listed maximum capacity of Sapporo Dome. Apparently somebody forgot to tell the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters fans.
BASKETBALL
Oct 5, 2007
JBL chief declares a new beginning
Although its name has been tweaked just a little bit, the nation's top hoop circuit is hoping to make big changes in a bid to boost the Japanese basketball scene.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2007
Gay braves rain in convincing 100 win
YOKOAHAMA — Track and field is an all-weather sport. But with Sunday's conditions the competitors could be forgiven for failing to post any convincing outcomes in an event in which nearly all the contests were hit by a steady, chilly rain.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 22, 2007
Takeda brings commanding presence to Hammies' rotation
In a rare show of emotion, with runners on first and third in the first inning, Hokkaido Nippon Ham pitcher Masaru Takeda pumped his left fist after striking out Tohoku Rakuten's Jose Fernandez by throwing a fastball on the inside of the plate.
BASKETBALL
Sep 17, 2007
Kawachi excited to be coaching again
This is the fourth straight year that the legendary streetball AND1 Mix Tape team comes to play in Japan. This year, its opponent is the bj-league All-Star team and the league's commissioner, Toshimitsu Kawachi, will be back on the sideline as head coach of the bj-league team.
BASKETBALL
Aug 2, 2007
Late Japan rally falls short against S. Korea
Although Japan head coach Kimikazu Suzuki tried to rely his veterans' experience and composure, it was his youngsters that took center-stage late in the game.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 2, 2007
Kinoshita frustrated by tough adjustments at training camp
He knew it would be hard. But maybe he didn't imagine that it would be this hard.
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Jul 29, 2007
Kinoshita begins bid to be first Japanese to play in NFL
Noriaki Kinoshita firmly took his first step toward becoming the first Japanese player to make it on an NFL roster on Thursday.
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
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.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
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.

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