Japan Page 5 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Will Japan's Experience Be Enough To Spring A World Cup Upset?<em></em>
The Japanese national team is built around an extremely solid core group of 30-somethings who have all proven themselves at the highest levels of European soccer. This is probably their last shot at World Cup glory, though they have a steep road ahead of them if they want to qualify past Colombia, P...
Japanese College Football World Rocked After Player Reveals He Was Ordered To Injure Opposing QB
A single dirty hit in a college football game three weeks ago has become a such a scandal in Japan that the perpetrator held a nationally televised press conference today to explain himself. ...
Sumo Ref Tells Women To Leave Ring After They Rush To Aid Man With Brain Hemorrhage
Ryozo Tatami, the mayor of a small town in Kyoto prefecture, was delivering a speech Wednesday before an exhibition sumo match when he suffered a brain hemorrhage and collapsed, according to the New York Times. Even though women comprise a large part of the sumo fanbase, they’re forbidden from ente...
Will Japan’s Olympic Mascot Be A Soohorang Or An Izzy?
The 2018 Winter Olympics are over, and there was one clear winner: Soohorang, mascot of the Pyeongchang games....
This Is A Truly Dreadful Curling Shot
It does not take a curling genius (or, barring that, just a regular old Canadian citizen) to figure out that Japanese skip Yusuke Morozumi really boinked this one against Denmark....
NBC Apologizes for Calling Japan An "Example" To Koreans
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, from 1910 until 1945, was characterized by executions, forced labor, systematic rape of so-called “comfort women,” and other human rights atrocities. Japan’s whitewashing of this time period in their history books today is a c...
These Japanese Kids Suck So Hard At Soccer That Not Even 100 Of Them Can Beat Three Pros
Last time the youth of Japan were given an opportunity to demonstrate their sporting acumen in the whimsical world of Japanese game shows, 55 children tried and failed to best a team of a mere two professional players in soccer. Recently, that same game show gave 100 more kids the chance to redeem t...
Kenny Omega And Chris Jericho Put On A Show
Kenny Omega is considered by many to be the best wrestler in the world. Chris Jericho is an unquestioned wrestling legend. They both showed why in Tokyo on Thursday....
Which Potential Olympic Mascot Has The Best Superpowers?<em></em>
Yesterday, the committee organizing the 2020 Toyko Summer Olympics announced the finalists for the official mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. As you can expect in a mascot-mad country like Japan, the process was complicated. Seriously, there were eight meetings of the Mascot Selection Pro...
Japanese Playoff Baseball Game Turns Into A Mud Bowl
In the first round of the Nippon Professional Baseball playoffs in Japan, the Hanshin Tigers and Yokohama DeNA Baystars battled through absolutely absurd conditions to play an entire baseball game in the mud. The result was unlike any baseball game I’ve ever seen. To watch the highlights with the fu...
Shohei Otani Is Reportedly Coming To MLB, Despite Its Best Efforts To Keep Him Away
Japanese baseball star Shohei Otani, who is in the midst of a Ruthian season for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters—the two-way stud had a 1.86 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 140 innings, to go along with 27 homers and a .322/.416/.588 triple slash in 2016—is reportedly ready to play ball in America. He’ll...
Japanese Baseball Game Called On Account Of Big Flock Of Birds
Wednesday’s NPB game between the Rakuten Golden Eagles and Seibu Lions ended after eight innings with an 8-8 tie, because a group of birds wouldn’t get off the damn field....
12-Year-Old Fighter Chokes Out 24-Year-Old Opponent At Japanese MMA Event
Remember Momo, the 12-year-old who got booked for an MMA fight in Japan against an opponent twice her age? She choked out the 24-year-old in question in the first round....
The Sports Highlight Of Day Is These Two Balls Rescuing Their Friend Ball From Some Mean Big Balls
I recognize that the most intense form of intimacy is asking someone to watch a four-minute video online. But...watch this video....
Team USA Makes WBC Final For The First Time Thanks To Mishandled Grounder
Tonight’s low-scoring World Baseball Classic semifinal between Japan and Team USA had none of the playful braggadocio seen in other World Baseball Classic games this year, but the Americans eked out a 2-1 win to advance to the WBC final for the first time....
Manny Ramirez's New Contract With Japanese Team Grants Unlimited Sushi And Optional Practices
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for the negotiations of Manny Ramirez’s new contract with the Japanese independent league Kochi Island Fighting Dogs, which reportedly grants optional practices, a chauffeured Mercedes, a private hotel suite for road games, a jersey that says “Manny” on the back, a...
Sumo Wrestler Extremely Fucked Up By Violent Collision
I don’t know the particulars here, but what I do know is that the above video depicts one big sumo guy slamming into another sumo guy, the injured sumo guy convulsing on the ground and then stumbling in a very pronounced way during his failed attempts to get back on his feet, and that it’s hard to w...
Kenta Maeda Pretends To Be Old Man, Strikes Out Hapless Child
With his first season with the Dodgers under his belt, pitcher Kenta Maeda returned to his native Japan this winter to do charity work in Hiroshima and visit Disneyland Tokyo. Maeda also disguised himself as an old man and clumsily fielded ground balls before he ruthlessly struck out a child on a ga...
Japanese Prime Minister Becomes Mario For Tokyo 2020 Segment
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe became Super Mario tonight in the traditional portion of the closing ceremony that previews the next Olympiad. Mario was joined by Pac-Man and famous anime figures, as well:...
Wrestling Gold Medalist Has The Best Celebration Of The Olympics
“Oh my God, the gold medal, I can’t believe we did it! Coach, come here! I’m gonna give you the biggest hug ever, I’m just so, so—[Chris Berman voice] WHHAAAAP! Haha, no seriously this time, get up and give me a—WHHAAAAP!”...