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July 28, 2024
 

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Andrew MCKIRDY

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Andrew MCKIRDY
Andrew McKirdy is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His main beat is soccer, but he has also covered rugby, tennis, volleyball, golf and even tug-of-war. A native of the Scottish Borders, he has written for The Scotsman newspaper and organized filming for a program on Japanese soccer for ITV television.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Mar 25, 2015
Halilhodzic gets to work as Japan starts from scratch again
The short, unhappy reign of former national team manager Javier Aguirre has cast a long shadow over Japanese soccer, but replacement Vahid Halilhodzic will care for nothing but the future when he leads the team out for the first time on Friday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 22, 2015
Hyodo leads Marinos to first victory of season
Shingo Hyodo pounced in the 81st minute to give Yokohama F. Marinos their first win of the J. League season with a 1-0 victory over Sagan Tosu on Sunday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 19, 2015
Halilhodzic passes over Endo for national team
New national team manager Vahid Halilhodzic called up Kensuke Nagai and Takashi Usami, but appeared to bring the curtain down on record cap-holder Yasuhito Endo's Japan career as he named his first squad on Thursday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 14, 2015
Abe strikes late as Reds top Montedio
Captain Yuki Abe slammed home an 83rd-minute piledriver to give Urawa Reds maximum points from their opening two games of the J. League season with a 1-0 win over Montedio Yamagata on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Mar 13, 2015
Halilhodzic confident of getting Japan back on track
New national team manager Vahid Halilhodzic believes he is the man to revive Japan's flagging fortunes, but warns the transformation from Asian Cup flops to World Cup hopefuls will not happen overnight.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 12, 2015
JFA confirms Halilhodzic as new national team manager
The Japan Football Association officially named Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic as Japan's new national team manager on Thursday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 7, 2015
Frontale dominate opener against F. Marinos
J. League
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League / 2015 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Mar 6, 2015
Gamba aiming to stay clear of chasing pack
The following is the second of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine highest-ranking teams competing in the first division are listed.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League / 2015 J. LEAGUE PREVIEW
Mar 5, 2015
Vissel eyeing J. League upset
The following is the first of a two-part preview for the upcoming J. League season. Team-by-team previews of the nine lowest-ranking teams competing in the first division are listed.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 4, 2015
Gamba looking for more success after glittering 2014
Gamba Osaka surpassed all expectations by winning the treble last season, but manager Kenta Hasegawa believes there is still room for improvement in 2015.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 3, 2015
Goal hero Yamagishi determined to keep Montedio up
Norihiro Yamagishi is happy to keep talking about the goal he scored to put Montedio Yamagata into last season's J. League promotion playoff final, but the goalkeeper would rather discuss what his team can achieve in its return to the first division.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 2, 2015
Dethroned Sanfrecce looking to reclaim J. League title
Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Hajime Moriyasu believes his team paid the price for its own success in failing to land a third straight J. League title last season, but the 46-year-old insists that this year will be different.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 28, 2015
Gamba blank Reds to usher in season
Gamba Osaka added another title to their bulging collection with a 2-0 win over Urawa Reds in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Feb 17, 2015
Reysol triumph in extra time against Thai side Chonburi FC
Brazilian striker Leandro scored a 116th-minute winner to send Kashiwa Reysol into the Asian Champions League group stage after shaking off Thai Premier League side Chonburi FC 3-2 in extra time on Tuesday night.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 12, 2015
JFA leaders take voluntary pay cut in aftermath of Aguirre ouster
Japan Football Association president Kuniya Daini will take a voluntary 50 percent pay cut for four months as a show of responsibility for the short-lived reign of scandal-tainted manager Javier Aguirre.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Feb 11, 2015
Fallout from Aguirre affair likely to have limited reach at JFA
The hiring and firing of Javier Aguirre has left the Japan Football Association with a severe bloody nose, but it remains to be seen if anyone at the governing body will pay for it.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 3, 2015
JFA fires embattled manager Aguirre
Javier Aguirre was fired as Japan's national team manager on Tuesday after a match-fixing case naming him as a defendant was accepted by a Spanish court.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 31, 2015
Nishikawa motivated by past failures
Urawa Reds and Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa has urged his teammates to seize the moment over the year ahead after suffering disappointment for both club and country in the last two months.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 28, 2015
JFA right to pass up convenient opportunity to fire Aguirre
It remains to be seen how much longer Javier Aguirre will continue as national team manager, but at least the Japan Football Association did not use last week's early exit from the Asian Cup as an excuse to fire him.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 24, 2015
New Marinos manager Mombaerts ready to get ball rolling
New Yokohama F. Marinos manager Erick Mombaerts says his players have exceeded expectations after one week on the job, and is determined to make a swift start to the 2015 J. League season.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Ahead of the Olympics, Japan is still talking about the gymnast who won't be there
Japan's Shoko Miyata withdrew from the gymnastics team herself over her drinking and smoking, although it had already appeared as though the association was prepared to send her home from the team’s training camp in Monaco.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
‘Crazy’ yen rally is at risk of shattering as soon as Wednesday
Some investors are warning that a yen rally is fragile, as was on show this week when the yen rapidly retraced an advance after Thursday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth figures.
Paris Olympics kick off with rain-soaked — but grandiose — opening ceremony
Japan's 2024 Olympic team moves down the Seine River in Paris during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics on Friday.
The Japanese Olympians looking to shine in Paris
Rim Nakamura, who is attempting to win Japan's first Olympic gold medal in cycling, will be one of the top Japanese athletes to watch at the Paris Games.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

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mission sustainability vol.8: Omron Corp.Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality

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