A Month After the Quake and Tsunami, Baseball Begins in Japan
In Tokyo and throughout eastern Japan, offices are a little darker, and fewer escalators are running in an attempt to conserve electricity. But cherry blossoms are in full bloom, a sign of spring, rebirth, and renewal. Another sign of spring – and, ultimately, a return to business as usual – is the start of […]
What is Baseball’s Place in the Crisis in Japan?
It’s common knowledge that on March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan, and a subsequent tsunami with waves reaching more than 30 feet devoured the island nation’s northeastern coast. Faced with the daunting tasks of finding the thousands still missing, providing shelter for the hundreds of thousands left homeless, and staving off an […]
Marty Kuehnert: A Lifetime in Japanese Baseball
“Everything with Japan started in the toilet.” When Marty Kuehnert speaks of the serendipitous event that led to his first trip to Japan, that’s usually how he begins. “Spend the summer in Japan!” the flyer above the urinal beckoned. Kuehnert, then a freshman at Stanford, noticed the sign while he was, er, in the toilet […]
On the MLB/NPB Posting System and Hisashi Iwakuma
There are plenty of Hot Stove topics occupying the sports pages this offseason, from the Yankees/Derek Jeter saga to what team will land Cliff Lee. There’s another story developing between the West Coast and Japan that is equally as intriguing. The struggle between the Oakland A’s and Rakuten Golden Eagles right-handed ace Hisashi Iwakuma have […]
