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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2020

Fukushima dreams: A young baseball star, a father and their shattered town

Kazuo Ouchi drives down a single-lane road through sheets of rain until he reaches a gravel driveway leading to a weathered farmhouse. Yellowing lace curtains are drawn tight over the windows, shutting out the weak winter light.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2019

U.S. baseball fans are too old, too white and too few

One thrilling World Series can't make the sport's viewership problems go away.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 18, 2015

Excavating Japan's buried baseball history with Masanori Murakami

Sometimes historical analysis can't compete with a good personal story, as Robert K. Fitts — a baseball expert and former archaeologist — proves with his newest book, "Mashi: The Unfulfilled Baseball Dreams of Masanori Murakami, the First Japanese Major Leaguer."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 29, 2019

'Gentle Black Giants': Diplomacy, sport and Japan's early love for baseball

'Gentle Black Giants' reveals a little-known chapter of Japanese baseball's early years and the impact that a collection of Negro Leagues players had on its development.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Mar 8, 2017

Hall of Fame boss Idelson deepening understanding of Japan baseball

Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, has spoken to groups of kids before.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 19, 2015

Japan to co-host Premier 12 baseball world tourney

Japan was the first-ever champion of the World Baseball Classic, lifting the championship trophy on foreign soil in 2006. If Samurai Japan repeats the feat at the inaugural Premier 12, the Japanese will get to do all their celebrating at home.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Apr 16, 2013

Taking cues from soccer could help baseball reach goal

Judging by popular opinion, many seem to think convincing MLB to commit to sending its top players to the Olympics is the key to getting the sport back into the program in the future, preferably in time for the 2020 Games.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / BASEBALL BULLET-IN,WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Feb 17, 2013

Upcoming WBC sparks excitment for Japanese baseball enthusiasts

It's time once again to gear up for the World Baseball Classic.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Mar 18, 2023

Baseball icon Miguel Cabrera soaks up a lot of lasts at World Baseball Classic

As Cabrera, 39, gets ready to hang up his spikes, he is soaking up a lot of lasts, starting with his fifth and final World Baseball Classic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 2, 2020

An invisible baseball curves through Japanese literature

There's a long history of pivotal baseball anecdotes in Japanese literature, with well-known writers such as Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami incorporating their love of the game into their work.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Aug 26, 2019

U.S. fan uses trading cards as one way to stay on top of Japanese baseball

If you went out in search of a dedicated Japanese baseball card enthusiast, you might not think to look in Maryland.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 2, 2013

Guts, glory and shaved ice: Koshien baseball

Summer is not summer in Japan without two things: 1. Heat (OK, so maybe it's not the heat, it's the humidity); and 2 . . .
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
May 15, 2022

Baseball’s streaming push leaves fans scrambling to find games

Sports leagues and broadcasters are struggling to accommodate both streaming-savvy younger fans as well as older fans still tethered to traditional TV packages.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Regional Voices: Chubu
May 27, 2020

Nagano and Ishikawa high school baseball coaches tout special anti-virus masks to get game going again

Local baseball federation to hand out masks made of washable antimicrobial fabric that are more breathable.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
May 6, 2020

Taiwan to allow baseball fans back into stands this week

The island's low rate of infection has allowed its professional baseball league to reopen stadiums to the public.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 2, 2017

Exhibition highlights legacy of U.S.-Japan baseball ties

Warren Cromartie, formerly of the Yomiuri Giants in NPB and the Montreal Expos and Kansas City Royals in MLB, pointed at Masanori Murakami and called him "a hero."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2016

World baseball chief plays down Fukushima Olympic fears

The president of world baseball's governing body on Friday played down fears that the sport's top stars will refuse to play in Fukushima if the nuclear disaster-hit prefecture hosts games at the 2020 Olympics.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Apr 15, 2022

‘This is American history’: Baseball's Hall of Fame reconsiders race

A planned permanent exhibit in Cooperstown is intended to highlight the Black experience in baseball, aiming to shed light on a legacy that has often been diluted and erased.
BASEBALL
Mar 8, 2017

China aims for incremental improvements on global baseball stage

China manager John McLaren starts each day by having his players remember their team motto: "Get better every day." He'll then pick out a player, who will then belt out a tune of his choice for the room, "they're lacking there a little bit," McLaren said with a grin.
Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen at home plate during the second inning against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 27, 2024

Baseball history as Jansen plays for both sides in same game

A trade during a postponement saw the player swap sides part way through a game.
 A giant mural of Shohei Ohtani on the side of a hotel in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 5, 2024

Japanese baseball fans flock to LA to see playoff-bound Ohtani

Inside Dodger Stadium, the influence of Japanese fans is clear, from Japanese-language merchandise to cuisine that included bento boxes, sushi and fried octopus.
The Seattle Mariners Ichiro Suzuki watches the ball in the top of the third inning against Oakland Athletics during their baseball game at the Major League Baseball Japan Opening Series in Tokyo in March 2019.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 15, 2025

Ichiro to donate personal collection to Hall of Fame

Suzuki wants "to follow in the footsteps of Hank Aaron and Tom Seaver," two players who pledged their entire collections to Cooperstown, said a former Hall of Fame official.
The BayStars used data analytics to inform the decision to have Hayato Horioka pitch against the Giants last fall. The bet paid off, with Horioka helping to seal the game and Yokohama advancing to the championship.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 17, 2025

'Moneyball' disciples aim to upend Japanese baseball for second year

Yokohama is honing its indicators that predict how well a pitcher will perform at any given moment.

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