Tag - baseball

 
 

BASEBALL

The Nippon Professional Baseball Organization revealed on Thursday that 14 people from seven teams had patronized online casinos after February 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2025
14 people from seven NPB teams admit to patronizing online casinos
The voluntary admission of the 14, who include players and team officials, follows an announcement by Orix Buffaloes that its pitcher took part in an online poker tournament.
Tsuneo Watanabe (center) attends a gathering with former prime ministers Yasuhiro Nakasone (right) and Toshiki Kaifu in Tokyo in 2009.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 19, 2024
Tsuneo Watanabe, editor-in-chief of Yomiuri Shimbun Group, dies at 98
Watanabe was an influential figure in Japan’s political and professional sports arenas.
Masayoshi Son (front, center) poses with the members of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks after the team won the Pacific League championship at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sept. 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 18, 2024
Masayoshi Son’s aim for SoftBank Hawks remains, 20 years after buyout
This year, the team became Pacific League champions for the first time in four years. But its owner has loftier goals.
Players gather for a baseball game at an unearthed and restored baseball field that had not seen a competition in 75 years, at the site of a Japanese internment camp in Manzanar, California, on Oct. 28.
JAPAN / History
Nov 4, 2024
In an internment camp, all they had was baseball. They’re back to play.
Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, baseball was a source of connection between Japan and the United States.
Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada won the outstanding lead actress and actor awards in a drama series, respectively, for "Shogun" at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 15.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 30, 2024
‘Peak Japan’ is now, so seize the moment, Japan
Japan has never been hotter! Japan is the number one country in the world right now, as voted on by everyone else except for the Japanese.
Japanese fans are signing up for expensive travel packages to watch the World Series, which will see the Los Angeles Dodgers — including Japanese players Yoshinobu Yamamoto (center) and Shohei Ohtani (right) — take on the New York Yankees.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024
World Series sparks travel frenzy among fans in Japan
Travel agencies are having a hard time keeping up with demand from baseball fans fired up by “Ohtanimania.”
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.
To preserve the integrity of the game in the legalized gambling era, Major League Baseball must double down and maintain its now posthumous ban on Pete Rose.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024
Pete Rose fans are wrong: He’s not worthy of the Hall of Fame
Backing down would undermine the league’s zero-tolerance stance and signal that “permanently ineligible” isn’t always permanent.
The Fair Trade Commission says rules preventing pro baseball players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2024
Japan FTC warns pro baseball body over agent rules
The body’s rules have limited agents for players to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers who had already been picked by other players.
Kyoto International High Shool's baseball team receives a champion flag after winning the Japanese High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture on Aug. 23.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2024
A high school baseball championship and Japan-South Korea relations
The reactions to Kyoto International High School winning the National High School Baseball Championship, both in Japan and South Korea, were intriguing.
Kyoto International High School players react after their win over Kanto Daiichi High School in the National High School Baseball Championship final at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on Friday.
BASEBALL
Aug 23, 2024
Underdog Kyoto International High School wins Summer Koshien crown
Kyoto International High School defeated Tokyo’s Kanto Daiichi High School in extra innings.
An ultrasonographic checkup to detect Little League elbow (top). The image on the bottom left shows a healthy elbow while an arrow on the bottom right image shows damage.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 6, 2024
Japanese team develops AI program to detect Little League elbow
The researchers aim to develop diagnostic equipment using an AI program for practical use in about a year.
Tokyo police have arrested a 27-year-old woman for posting online personal information of a professional baseball player along with violent messages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2024
Ex-Nippon Life staffer arrested over leak of Giants player’s information
The suspect, Satomi Amano, has denied the charges, claiming she doesn’t remember her actions due to having made “so many posts.”
Members of Onomichi High School's baseball team (back) have longer hair than members of teams that stick to traditional buzz cuts.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jul 1, 2024
High school baseball gets a makeover as buzz cut rules are no more
What was once seen as a symbol of fighting spirit is getting a rethink as coaches try to be mindful of students’ mental states and preferences.
Textbook publisher Kyoiku-Shuppan switched a section about Ippei Mizuhara (left) in its English textbook to a story about Japanese men's national soccer team.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 21, 2024
Section on Ohtani’s ex-interpreter removed from Japanese textbook
The section has been replaced with a section on the Japanese men’s national soccer team.
Negro Leagues uniforms are displayed at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
BASEBALL
May 30, 2024
Negro Leagues stats added to MLB record book in landmark move
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick hailed the move as a “major milestone in baseball history.”
A giant mural of baseball star Shohei Ohtani appears on the side of a hotel in downtown Los Angeles in March. ANA Holdings said it has reached a multi-year deal to be the official Japanese airline for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2024
ANA to be official Japanese airline of Ohtani’s LA Dodgers
The carrier will also collaborate with the Dodgers in celebrating Japanese culture at heritage nights events.
Shohei Ohtani's response, or lack thereof, to the gambling scandal sheds light on the cultural differences in crisis management between Japan and the West.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 2, 2024
Ohtani swings and misses at PR, but he’s not Japan’s first
Shohei Ohtani’s response, or lack thereof, to a gambling scandal sheds light on the cultural differences in crisis management between Japan and the West.
Baseball player Shohei Ohtani poses with his Japanese interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara (right), and his agent, Nez Balelo, during a news conference after signing a 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 22, 2024
Shohei Ohtani scandal raises the stakes on sports betting
The speed at which U.S. sports leagues have embraced betting put the Japanese star’s fastball to shame.
Mamiko Tanaka (right), wife of Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, arrives at Incheon International Airport on Friday ahead of the 2024 MLB Seoul Series baseball games.
JAPAN / Society
Mar 18, 2024
A mystery no more: What we know about Ohtani’s wife
No one in the sports world is receiving as much attention right now as baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani — that is, besides his wife, Mamiko Tanaka.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival