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April 01, 2025
 

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SPORTS

An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2025
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
The weeklong festival of all things baseball highlights how Shohei Ohtani has created myriad business opportunities on both sides of the Pacific.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani was the most popular player during MLB's Tokyo Series.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 21, 2025
Tokyo Series generates company-record $40 million in sales for Fanatics
According to the company, over 200,000 fans shopped at the official MLB stores operated by Fanatics
Shohei Ohtani gets a kiss from his dog Decoy at a game in August 2024. The Japanese slugger-pitcher’s return to his country to kick off the Major League Baseball season has sparked immense excitement, highlighting his unparalleled career and symbolic role as a national hero.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025
Superstar Shohei Ohtani for prime minister
He’s unavoidable in Japan: His face adorns ads for cosmetics, mattresses, English conversation schools and, most recently, convenience store rice balls.
Japanese dentist Yusuke Kamimura poses for a photograph in front of a private collection dedicated to MLB player Shohei Ohtani, inside his dental clinic in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo, on Feb. 28, 2025.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2025
Japanese superfans turn dental clinic into Ohtani mini-museum
Lining the walls of the waiting room are glass-encased displays of gloves, helmets, autographed balls and jerseys, countless bobblehead dolls and much more.
Akwasi Frimpong competes during a skeleton heat at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on Feb. 15, 2018.
OLYMPICS / Skeleton
Mar 6, 2025
Skeleton racer Akwasi Frimpong wants to open doors for more African athletes
The 39-year-old broke barriers in 2018 when he and Nigerian Simidele Adeagbo became the first African skeleton racers to compete at an Olympics.
Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) battle along the boards for a loose puck during a game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Jan. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2025
The NHL could’ve had a good year if not for tariffs
In 2016, the league denied an expansion franchise to Quebec, citing the "state and volatility of the Canadian dollar.”
Retired pro-boxer Mike Tyson and YouTuber/boxer Jake Paul fight during the heavyweight boxing bout in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 15. The fight highlights the need for a national boxing commission to enforce uniform safety standards and prevent exploitative matchups.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2024
Mike Tyson and Jake Paul's fight should have been illegal
Among major American sports, boxing is unique for its decentralized structure. There’s no annual schedule, season, commissioner or mandatory rulemaking body.
The anterior cruciate ligament can be damaged when people play sports such as soccer and basketball, and does not heal on its own, requiring reconstructive surgery.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 7, 2024
Clinical trial to use cow tendons for ligament reconstruction
The number of patients who undergo anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Japan is about 19,000 annually, including many professional soccer players and sumo wrestlers.
Stadium workers paint the World Series logo on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, a day ahead of the start of the Fall Classic.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024
Baseball’s biggest stars and biggest markets align for MLB broadcaster
As much as the history of the two franchises, the teams’ star players and league-leading records this season should help attract more casual baseball fans.
Since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, Manchester City has gone from a middling team to winning six of the last seven Premier League titles, an unprecedented success in over 130 years of English soccer.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2024
Soccer needs to avoid a tyranny of the rich
A dispute between the Premier League and Manchester City has both sides claiming victory.
Over the past 10 years, the athletic performance of women in their 40s showed a decline in the total score as well as in individual categories, according to the Japan Sports Agency.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 15, 2024
40% of Japanese women in their 30s and early 40s don't exercise at all
The trend reflects the fact that women in this age group tend to be busy with child rearing or work, according to the Japan Sports Agency.
Shohei Ohtani's success symbolizes a broader resurgence in Japanese sports, with contributing factors including increased investment in sports, modern coaching techniques and a generational shift in mindset.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 11, 2024
What baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s success says about Japan
The phenom has had what many are calling the greatest season ever. But his success is also a story of change in his home country.
Takayuki Suzuki won a gold, two silvers and a bronze medal during the Paris Paralympics.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 7, 2024
Paralympic star Takayuki Suzuki hopes to raise visibility of people with disabilities
Takayuki Suzuki won four medals, including one gold, during the Paris Paralympics.
Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season on Sept. 19.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 27, 2024
Shohei Ohtani 50-50 ball heads to auction despite ownership dispute
A Florida man has filed a lawsuit claiming the souvenir was wrested from him by another who is now selling it via an auction house.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hits his 50th home run of the season during the seventh inning against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 26, 2024
Shohei Ohtani's 50-50 home run ball to be sold at auction house
Bidding will start Friday at an opening price of $500,000, although buyers have a chance to purchase the ball outright for $4.5 million between Sept. 27 and Oct. 9.
Elementary school student Yugo Hirata, who uses a wheelchair, swims with the assistance of Edogawa-ku General Gymnasium staff member Michiyo Tominaga at a dedicated facility for people with disabilities in Tokyo on June 22.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 15, 2024
Projects eye better sports facility access for people with disabilities
Efforts are being made to create a network linking specialized sports facilities for people with disabilities with general public facilities.
Former Ukrainian serviceman Yevhenii Korinets and fellow members of the Ukrainian Paralympic sitting volleyball team at a gym in Reshetylivka, Ukraine, on Aug. 7
PARALYMPICS
Sep 10, 2024
Paralympic flame still burns brightly for military veterans
Some professionals have said that para sport is a natural fit for former military operatives.
Kazakhstan's Raushan Koishibayeva competes in the women's para powerlifting up to 73kg gold final on Saturday
PARALYMPICS
Sep 9, 2024
In pictures: Paralympics’ end brings hope for more diversity
Scenes from 11 days of thrilling competition, in which Japan bagged 14 gold medals, 10 silver and 17 bronze.
Weighting the total number of medals won by each country by value — three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze — reveals that the 12 countries with the highest medal count in Paris are all advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2024
The geopolitics of Olympic medals
A larger population offers a broader talent pool, and economic development supports better sports infrastructure and policies.
Shunya Takahashi (center) and Nihon Fukushi University professor Toshihito Mitsui (right) during an event in 2019.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 4, 2024
From Koshien to the Paralympics: Javelin thrower realizes dream long in the making
Born in the city of Yonago, Tottori Prefecture, Takahashi developed a right arm impairment at the age of 3 due to myelitis and finished sixth in his event in Paris.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
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.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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
By Johan Brooks

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