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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 / J. League
Nov 24, 2008
S-Pulse spoil Urawa's title hopes
SAITAMA — Shimizu S-Pulse all but killed off Urawa Reds' J. League title hopes with a 2-1 win on Sunday, on a day when Kashima Antlers, Nagoya Grampus and Kawasaki Frontale all surged away from the chasing pack.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 23, 2008
J. League title chase enters home stretch
The J. League title race going down to the wire is nothing new, but this year's championship is shaping up to be the tightest yet.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 19, 2008
Japan must beware at scene of biggest nightmare
The "Agony of Doha" — where Japan conceded a last-minute goal to Iraq to miss out on qualification for the 1994 World Cup — is indelibly burned on Japanese soccer's consciousness.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 14, 2008
Japan earns easy win
KOBE — Japan warmed up for next week's crunch World Cup qualifier against Qatar with a straightforward 3-1 friendly win over Syria on Thursday night.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 13, 2008
Unsung heroes deserve spotlight
Gamba Osaka's Asian Champions League win may not be greeted with the same fanfare that heralded Urawa Reds' groundbreaking triumph in last year's edition, but then understated elegance has always been Gamba's style.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 9, 2008
Suganuma, Popo trigger Reysol rally against Grampus
KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. — A late two-goal salvo from Minoru Suganuma and Popo put a huge dent in Nagoya Grampus' J. League championship aspirations as Kashiwa Reysol came from behind to beat Dragan Stojkovic's title-chasing side 2-1 on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 2, 2008
Trinita capture Nabisco Cup for first-ever title
Oita Trinita's fairy tale season continued with a 2-0 Nabisco Cup final win over Shimizu S-Pulse on Saturday to give the modest Kyushu club its first-ever silverware.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 1, 2008
Oita Trinita's style lacks flair but produces results
When the season began back in March, only a fool would have predicted that Oita Trinita would go into November preparing for a cup final just two points off the top of the J. League table.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 26, 2008
Marinos pick up valuable points in quest to remain in J1
KASHIWA, Chiba Pref. — Three-time J. League champion Yokohama F. Marinos took a big step toward first-division survival with a 3-1 win over Kashiwa Reysol on Saturday, while Nagoya Grampus' bid for a first-ever championship hit a snag with a 0-0 draw against Jubilo Iwata.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 23, 2008
Inukai ready to face new challenges as president of JFA
On July 12, Motoaki Inukai became president of the Japan Football Association, bypassing four JFA vice presidents and one general secretary to land the most powerful job in Japanese soccer.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Oct 18, 2008
Japan's margin for error slim after draw with Uzbeks
Japan manager Takeshi Okada's assertion that there was "no problem yet" after his side had drawn 1-1 at home to Uzbekistan in Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier drew hoots of derision from many watching the match, but as a sound bite it neatly summed up the national team's philosophy.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 16, 2008
Japan held by Uzbekistan
SAITAMA — Japan complicated its bid for a place at the 2010 World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Group A struggler Uzbekistan on Wednesday night.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Oct 13, 2008
Japan must forget about UAE game with Uzbekistan qualifier looming
If Japan's friendly against the United Arab Emirates was designed to give a confidence boost ahead of this week's World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan, it is difficult to see how it achieved anything but the opposite.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 10, 2008
Japan held to draw
The United Arab Emirates stunned Japan with a goal from virtually its only attack of the game to claim a 1-1 friendly-match draw on Thursday night.
SOCCER
Oct 8, 2008
Reds shift focus to ACL showdown
Urawa Reds manager Gert Engels is staking his club's entire season on retaining its Asian Champions League title, starting with Wednesday's semifinal first-leg clash with Gamba Osaka.
TENNIS
Oct 4, 2008
Del Potro upsets Ferrer in quarters
Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro sent top seed and defending champion David Ferrer crashing out in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Friday, while American Andy Roddick continued his successful tour of Asia with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Viktor Troicki.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Oct 3, 2008
Japan's soccer calendar sorely in need of a revamp
Last season's J. League title race was as notable for Urawa Reds' physical breakdown as it was for eventual champion Kashima Antlers' success, and one glance at the rest of this year's fixture list should be enough to send a familiar shiver running down Reds manager Gert Engels' spine.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Oct 2, 2008
Nishikori outlasts Garcia-Lopez in tense match
Teenager Kei Nishikori came out on top of an early battle of wills with Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on Wednesday to move into a third-round matchup against Richard Gasquet at the Japan Open.
SOCCER
Sep 25, 2008
Reds cruise past Al Qadsia to set up ACL semifinal date with Gamba
SAITAMA — Defending champion Urawa Reds set up an all-Japanese Asian Champions League semifinal clash against Gamba Osaka with a comfortable 2-0 win over Kuwait's Al Qadsia on Wednesday night.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Sep 24, 2008
Lowly JEF United stuns Nagoya Grampus
A 60-second nightmare for Nagoya Grampus goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki dented his side's title aspirations and handed relegation-haunted JEF United Chiba a precious 2-1 win on Tuesday night.
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

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