author

 
Menu
Search
 
July 28, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Andrew MCKIRDY

Meta

Twitter

@Andrew_McKirdy

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 / J. League
Mar 7, 2010
Antlers show class against Reds
KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — Kashima Antlers gave yet another example of their pedigree as the defending champions opened the new J. League season with a masterful 2-0 win over Urawa Reds on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 4, 2010
Stojkovic hopeful newcomers will bolster Grampus
...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 3, 2010
Frontale placing hopes on Inamoto
If there was a certain inevitability about the way Kawasaki Frontale failed to win their first piece of major silverware last season, it did not go unnoticed by anyone at the Kanagawa club.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 2, 2010
Finke's vision slowly taking root at Urawa
Volker Finke knew his job was not going to be easy when he took over as manager of Urawa Reds last season, and so it proved.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 28, 2010
Endo's miss helps Antlers top Gamba in Fuji Xerox Super Cup shootout
A rare penalty miss from Yasuhito Endo handed Kashima Antlers the Fuji Xerox Super Cup with a 5-3 shootout win after a 1-1 regulation-time draw on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 27, 2010
Oliveira says Antlers hungry for another title
Kashima Antlers manager Oswaldo Oliveira insists success has left his record-breaking team hungrier than ever, and intends to prove the point in Saturday's Fuji Xerox Super Cup against Gamba Osaka.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Feb 18, 2010
Time for Okada to step back and take stock
National team manager Takeshi Okada vowed to get straight back in the saddle after his public dressing-down on Monday. After the beating he has just taken, a period of quiet reflection might be a better option.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 16, 2010
Okada escapes sack
Under-fire national team manager Takeshi Okada will lead Japan at the World Cup after surviving showdown talks with Japan Football Association president Motoaki Inukai on Monday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 15, 2010
Japan blows chance to win E. Asian title
Japan had to settle for third place in the four-nation East Asian Football Championship after a frantic, incident-packed 3-1 defeat to South Korea on Sunday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 12, 2010
Tamada guides Japan to 3-0 win over Hong Kong
Japan overcame its dry patch in front of goal but still made heavy weather of a 3-0 win over minnows Hong Kong in the East Asian Football Championship on Thursday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Feb 11, 2010
Action, not words, needed to save Japan from humiliation
Given the empty rhetoric that has come to characterize his reign as national team manager, it was no surprise to hear Takeshi Okada attempting to put a positive spin on Japan's dismal 0-0 draw with China last weekend.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 7, 2010
Opportunistic Narazaki ensures draw for Japan
Seigo Narazaki saved Japan's blushes with a late penalty stop to salvage a 0-0 draw with China in the opening game of the East Asian Football Championship on Saturday.
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 6, 2010
Okada wants to see players' fighting spirit
National team manager Takeshi Okada has warned his players they will be fighting for their World Cup lives at the East Asian Football Championship over the coming week.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 1, 2010
Kashiwagi relishing challenge at unfamiliar Urawa
SAITAMA — If Urawa Reds manager Volker Finke intends to focus on the positives from his first year in charge of the J. League club, new recruit Yosuke Kashiwagi is on hand to remind him how far the team still has to go.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 21, 2010
Okada straying from beaten path with Ogasawara callup
As national team manager Takeshi Okada would have it, last week's decision to end J. League player of the year Mitsuo Ogasawara's three-and-half-year international exile was just the next step on his road map toward the World Cup.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 16, 2010
Inamoto ready for challenge
KAWASAKI — Junichi Inamoto believes he can be the final piece in Kawasaki Frontale's championship puzzle after ending his eight-and-a-half year spell in Europe to join last season's J. League runnerup.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 14, 2010
Surprise callup breathes new life into Ogasawara's World Cup hopes
National team manager Takeshi Okada handed reigning J. League player of the year Mitsuo Ogasawara a World Cup lifeline on Wednesday with a first callup since June 2006.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 7, 2010
Nagoya flexing muscles with ambitious big-name signings
There is still plenty of time for the J. League winter transfer market to kick into full swing, but that hasn't stopped Nagoya Grampus from setting their stall out early.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 1, 2010
Okada stands firm on goal of reaching World Cup semis in S. Africa
For all the charges leveled at Takeshi Okada, no one could ever accuse him of lacking confidence.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Dec 30, 2009
Lucas-led Gamba advance to Emperor's Cup final
Holder Gamba Osaka set up an Emperor's Cup final showdown with Nagoya Grampus after beating feisty second-division champion Vegalta Sendai 2-1 on Tuesday.
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.
Japan's average life expectancy rises for first time in three years
A decline in COVID-19-caused deaths likely helped boost the average life expectancy for Japanese men and women to rise for the first time in three years in 2023.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives
JNTO promotes sustainable tourism initiatives

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER