Tag: japan
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Data File: Height, Weight and Peeing in the Shower – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2017) How tall are you? If Americans don’t seem to be as tall as they used to be, there is good reason for that. According to a study by the journal eLife last year, Americans haven’t actually grown very much during the past half century—only about 2 inches. The average height for…
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National Anthem and Baseball – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2016) Have you ever tried to sing America’s national anthem? Oh say can you see,By the dawn’s early light,What so proudly we hailedBy the twilight’s last gleaming,And the rockets’ red glare,The bombs bursting in air— It is not an easy thing to do. The melody is difficult. It is too long. And…
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Okinawa Et Al, Revised – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2016) This column has nothing to do with baseball, or even sports, unless you consider protesting against the American presence in Japan as a sport. But it is a subject that needs to be addressed and written about. So here goes. The historic visit to Hiroshima by President Obama was a source…
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Ichiko-YCAC 120th Anniversary – Yukan Fuji
By Robert Whiting (2016) Do you know your baseball history? If you do, then you will know there is an important anniversary coming up—an anniversary of a historically important event in the history of baseball in Japan, and an anniversary of a historic event in the history of Japan-America relations as well. Don’t know? Well…
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The Chrysanthemum and the Bat review
by Library Journal (Aug 15, 1977) Japanese baseball, even more than its American counterpart, is a game of custom and tradition, a sport which has acquired staggering appeal. Children play baseball 12 months a year; major league players are treated with deference reserved for royalty and clergymen. Whiting touches upon these topics in this definitive…
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Review: The Chrysanthemum and the Bat
by L. Vington, Fort Worth Star Telegram (Jul 17, 1977) Although baseball is a business affair in America, in Japan, despite its vast popularity, a ball club is often merely a tax write off for its sponsoring firm. Which is but one of the numerous differences in the game that seem to be the same…
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In Japan, umpires even get hits – in the head
by Abe C. Ravitz, The Plain Dealer (Jul 14, 1977) An easy ground ball is booted by the shortstop as the winning run scores. The offending player looks at the crowd and smiles. An error doesn’t bother him, it’s perfectly human. That’s baseball Samurai style. A popular .350 hitter speaks disrespectfully to his manager and…
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Book Review: Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies: The outsiders who shaped modern Japan
by Henry Hilton, Japan Today – April 27 2024 TOKYO Foreigners behaving badly goes down well with audiences in Japan. Stories of Yankee misfits, British conmen and Korean upstarts are guaranteed to find eager readers. Throw in shady espionage rings, guys who started out by sleeping on park benches, plus stories of massive transfers of dollars bills in…
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Reading “Gamblers, Fraudsters, Dreamers & Spies” by Robert Whiting
by DC Palter, Japonica – June 18 2024 Robert Whiting is always fun to read. The author of You Gotta Have Wa and Tokyo Junkie, Whiting has been writing about Japan since arriving in the country in 1962. Whiting is the preeminent English-language writer and commentator on Japanese baseball, and has also written extensively about the yakuza in Tokyo…
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Sideline Slants: Eureka-reared writer scores with new book
by Don Terbush (Jul 10, 1977), Eureka Times Robert Whiting, Eureka High School class of ’61, has written an interesting and widely acclaimed book “Chrysanthemum and the Bat.” In it he describes the Japanese character through the common game of baseball. “The very different way the Japanese approach the game mirrors their fundamentally different approach…
Tokyo Junkie 