Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports.
His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years.
This site is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work featuring material previously unreleased in English.
Bob’s latest book is Tokyo Junkie, a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here.
You can subscribe to Bob’s Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business
Bob’s next book Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies is available for pre-order here. Coming Spring 2024.
Award winning filmmaker, Rionne McAvoy, is in the process of producing a bio-doc of Bob’s life and is looking for further support to bring the project to fruition
 |  |  |  |  |
More on Bob’s books here
Selected work
This site aggregates Robert’s work – hosted here or elsewhere. Below, a small selection:
- (July, 2019) “Agony and ecstasy: Why Japan is obsessed with high school baseball“, Nikkei Asia Review
- (May, 1989) “The Pain of Perfection“, Sports Illustrated
- (August, 2020) “Inside story of US black ops in post-war Japan“, The Asia Times
- (October, 2014) “Negative impact of the 1964 Olympics profound“, The Japan Times
Recent work
- (July, 2023) “The best books to learn about life“, Shepherd.com book recommendations
- (June 2023) “Showcasing Japanese baseball requires saving Meiji Jingu Stadium“, Nikkei Asia
- (June 2023) “Field of Nightmares“, FCCJ Number 1 Shimbun
Meiji Jingu re-development protest efforts
Bob is a prominent voice against the problematic redevelopment plan of Meiji Jingu and the historic 97-year-old Meiji Jingu Kyujo — site of the historic Big Six University Baseball competition and home ballpark of the Yakult Swallows. You can see his articles and talks on the subject here. Sign-up here and here to keep up to date and support protest efforts.
You can hear him speak on the stadium’s history and proposed re-development with Rochelle Kopp – another prominent figure who has lodged two legal challenges against the plan – below.
Tokyo Junkie 