Author: rwhiting1942
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Revisiting Tokyo Underworld
Revisiting ‘Tokyo Underworld,’ book that lifted lid on crime in Japan With a TV series in prospect, its author reflects on how lawbreaking has changed Three yakuza in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment and red-light district in 1971. (Katsumi Watanabe)ROBERT WHITING, Contributing writerApril 15, 2020 13:00 JST More than two decades ago I published a book called…
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OBIT: Katsuya Nomura. Japan’s Greatest Catcher
Katsuya Nomura, star baseball player with rocky personal life He spent 26 years at Nankai Hawks, racking up achievements Yakult Swallows manager Katsuya Nomura is tossed in the air by his jubilating players at the Seibu Lions Stadium in Saitama after they capped thier 1993 season with a 4-3 victory over the Seibu Lions on…
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Death of a Pitching God
Obituary: Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball legend with Korean roots Pitcher, who grew up in an era of ethnic prejudice, won a record 400 games Masaichi Kaneda unleashes a pitch for the Yomiuri Giants in 1969, his final year in a pro career that began in 1950. © KyodoROBERT WHITING, Contributing writerOctober 8, 2019 18:48 JST…
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Lessons From a Japanese baseball Maverick
Lessons from a Japanese baseball maverick Yutaka Enatsu would have wowed America if he had played in the MLB Yutaka Enatsu unleashes a pitch while playing for the Hanshin Tigers in 1975. A Japanese sporting legend, he was as famous in Japan for his notorious lifestyle as for feats on the mound. © JijiROBERT WHITING, Contributing writerAugust 21, 2020…
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THE ENATSU STORY: Long Version
JAPAN’S SANDY KOUFAX: THE YUTAKA ENATSU STORY: By Robert WhitingNot much is known in North America about Yutaka Enatsu, a southpaw who was perhaps the best pitcher who ever played the game in Japan, and that includes Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish. Americans who had the chance to see him throw, certainly never forgot the…
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Agony and ecstasy: Why Japan is obsessed with high school baseball
The annual Koshien Stadium competition is the closest thing to a national festival ROBERT WHITING, Contributing writer NIKKEI ASIA REVIEW JULY 24, 2019 14:30 JST TOKYO — The biggest sporting event of the year in Japan is a high school baseball tournament held each August at the Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, near Kobe, on the…
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Spring Koshien cancellation crushes baseball players’ dreams
First time since Second World War that high school tournament has been scrapped Players of Toho high school and Narashino high school play in the final of the national high school baseball invitational championship at Koshien Stadium on April 3, 2019. © KyodoROBERT WHITING, Contributing writerMarch 13, 2020 16:07 JST Few things in Japanese…
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Agony and ecstasy: Why Japan is obsessed with high school baseball
The annual Koshien Stadium competition is the closest thing to a national festivalROBERT WHITING, Contributing writer NIKKEI ASIA REVIEW JULY 24, 2019 14:30 JST TOKYO — The biggest sporting event of the year in Japan is a high school baseball tournament held each August at the Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, near Kobe, on the north…
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Japanese Baseball’s ‘Wa’ Factor, International Herald Tribune, Patrick Smith July 18, 1989
Japanese Baseball’s ‘Wa’ Factor by Patrick L. Smith (Jul 18, 1989) When Bob Whiting arrived in Tokyo back in 1965 to attend Sophia University’s extension for foreign students, it was only natural that he gravitated quickly to the spectator sport both Japan and the United States claim as a national pastime. How could he know…
Tokyo Junkie 