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November 22, 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
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 Times
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 18, 2009
Okada unfazed by Nakamura's struggles in Spain
National team manager Takeshi Okada has reassured Shunsuke Nakamura that he will form the cornerstone of Japan's 2010 World Cup challenge despite failing to make an impact at Espanyol.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Dec 17, 2009
Time to face up to reality with Nakamura's star on the wane
As national team manager Takeshi Okada runs the rule over the year gone by, he will have to face up to an uncomfortable but unavoidable truth — 2009 has not been kind to Shunsuke Nakamura.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 13, 2009
Yamazaki, Gamba spoil Antlers' Emperor's Cup aspirations
KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — Gamba Osaka dashed Kashima Antlers' hopes of a league-and-cup double with a 2-1 win in the Emperor's Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 10, 2009
Title win cements Antlers' spot in J. League history
Having won an unprecedented third straight championship at the weekend, the current Kashima Antlers side has earned the right to call itself the best the J. League has ever seen.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Dec 7, 2009
Japan's World Cup group difficult, but not impossible
The World Cup draw could certainly have been kinder to Japan, but that is not to say Takeshi Okada's side is guaranteed to fall at the first hurdle next summer.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 6, 2009
Koroki-led Antlers capture third straight J. League title
SAITAMA — Shinzo Koroki struck with a 67th-minute diving header to give Kashima Antlers a tension-drenched 1-0 win over Urawa Reds and a record third consecutive J. League title on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 5, 2009
Frontale need help to capture first J. League title
KURIHIRA, Kanagawa Pref. — For Kawasaki Frontale goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, Saturday will either mark the greatest day of his club career or the latest in a long line of painful failures.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 29, 2009
Oliveira's Antlers move closer to another title
KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — Kashima Antlers crushed title rivals Gamba Osaka 5-1 to take an emphatic step toward a record third consecutive championship on Saturday, but Kawasaki Frontale made sure the race will go down to the wire with a 1-0 win over Albirex Niigata.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 28, 2009
Franca leading Reysol's charge to avoid relegation
Kashima Antlers' attempts to clinch another J. League title will hog the limelight on Saturday, but not everyone's eyes will be focused on the top of the table.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 22, 2009
J. League title race heats up; Edmilson propels Reds past Jubilo
SAITAMA — Kashima Antlers and Gamba Osaka ramped up the pressure on Kawasaki Frontale in the J. League title race with wins on Saturday, while Urawa Reds salvaged some pride from a difficult season with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Jubilo Iwata.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
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.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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