From 2018-23, I was a full-time lecturer at Ritsumeikan University. You might recall that for a stretch there, we were under pandemic rules, which meant that classes were conducted entirely online. Perhaps it was because of this dearth of networking opportunities, one of the school’s alumni, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, conducted a Zoom session to talk about…
Saturday, December 2. Just a three-minute walk south of Hanshin Amagasaki Station is a building that was once Kaimei Elementary School. On the first floor at the end of the hall (literally the same hallway they used when it was a school) is Nanairo Cafe – a fairly basic place where people can sit and…
Sources: Hanshin Official / Daily Sports The Hanshin Tigers announced on November 30 that they have reached an agreement with right-handed Panamanian pitcher Javy Guerra. The 28-year-old will wear #00 and his contract is estimated to be worth one million US dollars (¥147 million). Guerra sent the following comment on to Japan: “Nice to meet…
On Tuesday night (November 28) in Tokyo, Nippon Professional Baseball held its annual awards ceremony to recognize excellent players and their contributions to the game. Here’s how it went down for our Hanshin Tigers. Matsutaro Shoriki Award: Akinobu Okada Central League MVP: Shoki Murakami Central League Rookie of the Year: Shoki Murakami Central League Best…
Host T-Ray sits down with author and professor John Rucynski, editor-in-chief of the 2022 anthology entitled A Passion for Japan. The two discuss John’s arrival in Japan, his encounter with the Hanshin Tigers, what went right for the team in 2023, and also the book that John kindly accepted T-Ray’s chapter contribution! This is the…
The Hanshin Tigers won their first pennant in 18 years. The Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League for the third straight season. The two teams faced off in what will surely go down as a classic Japan Series. Long before the results of that series were known (and surely, you know by now that the…
I had the pleasure of being at Koshien Stadium on November 5 to watch Game 7 of the Japan Series with 12,000+ other crazy fans. It was such an amazing time. Here is a video of my day. Enjoy! Facebook Comments
The long wait is over. For just the second time in NPB (1950-present) history, the Hanshin Tigers are the best team in Japan. This series went down to the wire, but the final game was lopsided from the start. Even in the innings that the Tigers didn’t score, they knocked on the door and put…
A loss is a loss, so there is no point in complaining about what seemed from these biased eyes to be an inconsistent strike zone. Normally steady Shoki Murakami walked two (on close calls) and Yuki Nishi walked one on a questionable call, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the benefit of several calls the other way…