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April 05, 2025
 

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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.
SOCCER / J. League
May 30, 2015
Patric's late goal gives Gamba a draw with Marinos
Gamba Osaka substitute Patric scored in the 95th minute to claim a 1-1 draw and deny Yokohama F. Marinos a fifth straight J. League win on Saturday.
JAPAN / Society
May 28, 2015
Early summer shifts have merit but experts see overtime, family disruption risks
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hoping to kick-start a summer of love by shifting work hours forward in order to free up time in the evenings for families to spend together.
SOCCER / J. League
May 23, 2015
Urawa shows mettle in victory over Kashima
Urawa Reds took a significant step toward the J. League first stage title after coming from behind to beat Kashima Antlers 2-1 on Saturday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 15, 2015
Astroscale opens lab in Tokyo in bid to clean up space junk
A Singapore-based company that aims to sweep junk from space has expanded to Tokyo and has handed its biggest broom to 32-year-old female President Miki Ito.
SOCCER / J. League
May 6, 2015
Streaking Sanfrecce beat Frontale for fifth straight win
Sanfrecce Hiroshima picked up their fifth straight win with a smash-and-grab 1-0 victory over Kawasaki Frontale on Wednesday to move one point off the top of the J. League table.
SOCCER / J. League
May 2, 2015
Reds beat Gamba in showdown between J. League's top two teams
Zlatan Ljubijankic scored with six minutes remaining to keep Urawa Reds on top of the J. League with a 1-0 win over closest rival Gamba Osaka on Saturday.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 25, 2015
Reds build three-point cushion atop J. League table
Urawa Reds extended their lead at the top of the J. League table with a comfortable 2-1 win over Nagoya Grampus on Saturday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 24, 2015
Apple Watch debuts in Japan with little fanfare
The much-hyped Apple Watch went on sale to a muted fanfare Friday as shoppers came to terms with limited availability of the tech giant's first wearable gadget.
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 22, 2015
Gamba, Reds force way to top again
The J. League season is only six games old, but already there is a familiar look about both the top and bottom of the table.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Apr 18, 2015
Japan, Belarus tied after opening day of Fed Cup World Group II playoff
Kurumi Nara won her singles match to cancel out former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka's victory in the opening rubber as Japan and Belarus ended the first day of their Fed Cup World Group II playoff on Saturday tied at 1-1.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2015
Thais flock to Japan for holiday, ignore freeze on flight increases
Thai tourists took advantage of a weaker yen and relaxed visa restrictions to flock to Japan over the three-day Songkran holiday ending Wednesday, but a temporary freeze on Thai flight increases to the country was likely to impact numbers.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 12, 2015
Chelsea target Muto sends FC Tokyo joint-top of J. League table
Chelsea target Yoshinori Muto lived up to his billing with the winning goal as FC Tokyo beat Shonan Bellmare 1-0 on Sunday to move joint-top of the J. League table.
Japan Times
Rugby
Apr 4, 2015
Brave Blossoms qualify for Tokyo Sevens quarterfinals
Japan came through a group including France, Samoa and Argentina to advance to the quarterfinals of a Sevens World Series tournament for the first time since 2000 at the Tokyo Sevens on Saturday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 1, 2015
Halilhodzic warns against complacency after Uzbekistan rout
New national team manager Vahid Halilhodzic hailed his players' efforts after Tuesday's 5-1 thrashing of Uzbekistan, but warned they will have to prove themselves all over again when he picks his next squad.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 31, 2015
Japan trounces Uzbekistan in friendly
Japan turned on the style to sweep Uzbekistan aside 5-1 on Tuesday night and give new manager Vahid Halilhodzic the perfect start with two wins out of two.
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.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
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