Ichiro record at risk in Japan; Will Japanese players become petty?

With his sharp single to center  against the Toronto Blue Jays, Ichiro Suzuki  rewrote baseball’s record books — again.

Reuters

The Thursday hit was his 200th for the season, marking a record 10th consecutive year of reaching that plateau. Since leaving Japan to take his talents across the Pacific to the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Ichiro has reached that milestone every year. He is now tied with all-time hits leader Pete Rose for most seasons with 200 hits.

Predictably, his impressive accomplishment created quite a stir in Japan. Newspapers issued special commemorative editions and Ichiro was the lead item on Japanese morning and midday TV news programs. However, lost amid the fanfare over the speedy outfielder’s latest North American record is that one of his most-famous Japanese records — the single-season hits record — may be under threat by a journeyman American playing in Ichiro’s homeland.

Matt Murton, who is in his first season with Japan after Major League stops with the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies, recorded three hits on Thursday in a 6-1 Hanshin Tigers victory over the Chunichi Dragons. That brought his season total to 201 hits, becoming only the fourth player ever in Nippon Professional Baseball league to top the 200 mark.

In a post-game interview, the 28-year-old Mr. Murton said he was “humbled” by the achievement and that he was thankful for the opportunity to finally showcase his talent in Japan. Mr. Murton, who is hitting .352 with 17 home runs and 85 runs batted in as a lead-off hitter and everyday left fielder for the Tigers, has 10 games left to try to best Ichiro’s record.

Ichiro holds the Japanese record for most hits in a single season with 210, a tally he reached as a baby-faced, 20-year-old outfielder for the Orix Blue Wave.  Not to be outdone, Ichiro got to 210 in 1994 in only 130 games, while Mr. Murton topped 200 in his 134th game. Ichiro also set the Major League single-season record with 262 hits in 2004.

At his current pace of 1.5 hits per game, Mr. Murton is on track to top Ichiro’s Japanese mark with 216 hits but the question remains: will pitchers here pitch to him?

There are past examples of Japanese pitchers refusing to challenge foreign players who are close to breaking Japanese baseball records. The most prominent one involves the single-season home run record of 55 held by Japan’s all-time home run king Sadaharu Oh.

On three occasions in the last 25 years, a foreign player has tied or come close to breaking Mr. Oh’s record — only to face teams managed by Mr. Oh who refused to throw strikes to those players. While it’s possible Mr. Murton may receive the same treatment, he has a few things working in his favor.

Ichiro’s mark, while respected, may not be revered quite like Mr. Oh’s home run record. Also, Ichiro is still playing and there may be less sentimental pressure to protect his record. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Hanshin is in a tight pennant race.

The Tigers are tied for second place in the Central League with the Yomiuri Giants. Both teams are 2.5 games back of first-place Chunichi but Hanshin has 10 games left to play versus three for Chunichi and eight for Yomiuri. It would be hard to imagine Japanese pitchers willing to intentionally walk the lead-off hitter of a team still in the pennant race.

Follow Daisuke Wakabayashi on Twitter @daiwaka

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Mao-chan Mania--浅田麻央はひな人形になったら

Even though she "only" got 2nd place (My God, who the heck could stand up to Yu-Na Kim's performance anyhow?!)  Mao is still a tough cookie...  But someone here in Japan took things overboard and made here in to a ひな人形 (hina doll-- for the Hina matsuri...  You know, Girl's Day...  Ok Ok, time for a quick culture lesson...)

The Japanese Doll Festival (雛祭り, Hina-matsuri), or Girls' Day, is held on March 3.^[1] Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形, hina-ningyō) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.  The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi (雛流し, lit. "doll floating"), in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them.  

--Thank you Wikipedia!

 

Ok, now that you know what that is-- here is the weirdness on video...  Bear in mind though, this is to *support* Mao-chan, not creep her out.  Still, most Japanese folks I asked about this after seeing it on TV earlier today said it's pretty creepy...  (yeah, the video is in Japanese BTW.  Comment away if you need a translation, I'll give you one if that many people care for it) 

Now Mao-chan again took 2nd place behind Yu-Na Kim...  But who the F cares-- both of them are cute, and it takes a stupid amount of skill, practice, and dedication to get this good...  And they're only 19...  I wish I had half the focus of these two and I'm close to being double their age.  (Where has my life gone?!)  I shouldn't have to tell you the outcome though...  

Posted via email from ...all about starrwulfe...

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Unsuitable — Japanese snowboarder busted for bad fashion

Pay no attention to the foreign characters or language unless you understand them. Instead, focus on the dreadlocked gentleman on the left. You'll notice his outfit looks just a little different than his teammates'. That's snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo. He's apologizing at the end of the clip because Japanese officials aren't too happy with the way he wore his suit.

With his sagging pants, untucked shirt, and loosened tie, Kokubo looked like any sloppily dressed 21-year-old. But that's not going to fly. According to one Japanese Olympic Committee official, "It is not the way the Japanese delegation should dress themselves while taxpayers' money is spent on them." Uh-oh.

Kokubo, who is expected to contend for a medal, was banned from a welcoming ceremony in Vancouver after there were complaints about his clothes. The snowboarder followed that up by saying the Olympics are "just another snowboarding event," and that they are "nothing special." Uh-oh again.

The anti-authority stance permeates snowboarding, but there are certain times when you have to play nice. One of those times is the Olympics. Your country is paying for you to represent them. You get the chance of a lifetime to do something hardly anyone else gets to do. And it's all free. Pretty sweet deal. So just go with the flow.

Plus, if you're wearing a suit, wear it like a suit. It's basically the easiest way to look good.

via Yahoo! sports

Y'all have no idea about the concept of image in a place like Japan-- a place which I happen to live in.

This is a place where there are beaches and swim parks that won't let you in if you have a tattoo; and I don't just mean the kind that are glamorized by the Yakuza-- I mean tramp-stamps, tribal bands, etc... meaning the whole lot of American pro sports athletes, rappers, and even my 65 year old father who has a Vietnam vet tat would have to cover it up somehow.

I have one earring in my left ear. For years at a very corporate job in America, I wore it-- I'm a journalist, and whenever I would encounter some opposition, I'd simply say "Ed Bradley" (the late Ed Bradley of CBS's 60 Minutes, is one of my heroes in the journalist world; He was known for his chatty, witty interview styles, ballsy topics, and of course his earring he'd wear ON CAMERA without fail.) Even here in Japan, I'd never had one person in 10 years say "take that out" until I started working for a very buttoned down English language academy. The upper management of some of Japan's biggest companies send their execs there. There I am wearing my most conservative suit, red power tie, looking like Ward Cleaver all the way. I'm touting my career and my experiences, in both English and Japanese. The interviewer's only statement after my 10 minute introduction was "Does that earring come off?" in Japanese...

Image is everything. It doesn't matter if you have a PhD in Nuclear Fusion Hydronics, and have the plans to make unlimited power from garbage where the only by-product is water and apple pies. You won't work in Japan, without conforming even a little bit to the IMAGE that has been bestowed upon you beforehand.

Posted via web from ...all about starrwulfe...

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Atlanta to Host WrestleMania 27 (hellz yeah!)

While WrestleMania 26 is still nearly two months away, the WWE announced Monday that next year's event will be hosted by Atlanta, GA.  The WWE along with the Atlanta Sports Council held a press conference Monday to officially announce that WrestleMania 27 will take place at the Georgia Dome on Sunday, April 3, 2011.

This will be the first that time that the WWE spectacular will take place in Atlanta. Sunday night, the city hosted the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view at the Phillips Arena.
"We are thrilled to bring the biggest sports entertainment event in the world for the first time to the city of Atlanta in 2011. The enthusiasm of the sellout crowd at last night's Royal Rumble was just a small sample of what to expect when WrestleMania XXVII takes over Atlanta," said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to focusing the eyes of the world onto the great city of Atlanta and making history at the Georgia Dome."
Wrestling has been a long-time fixture in Atlanta and was a hotbed for the National Wrestling Alliance and World Championship Wrestling. The city is a natural fit for the event and it should do very well there.

via fanhouse.com

Well there goes some more ¥,$, and vacation time for next year... Funny how I finally move to Japan, and NOW all these major events that I wanted to have happen in my own backyard are FINALLY happening?! I missed the MLB All-Star Game being in my hometown, St. Louis in '09; even though ATL is my home now, I'd have driven back there to at least have the experience... But say what you will about wrasslin'-- Its watched around the world, loved by its fans (including some die-hard fans here in Japan that don't mind paying ¥50,000 [US$510] for a seat... and not a very good one even!) And now WRESTLEMANIA will be in the Georgia Dome!! Well looks like I'll be making my visit back home this time next year one week longer... I'm getting tix the first day they come out!!! Hellz yeah!!

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/etc/bin/startup/save_us.y2j

There are only 3 things I watch on TV with any regularity... Anime, TLC/Discover, and WWE... And if you know me, you know I take wrestling seriously. It's all about the performance, and in-ring skills... But its about the mic-skills to back it up. 

Five mat-jockeys come to mind when I think about "wrasslin'" today:  The Rock, John Cena, DX (HHH and HBK) and Y2J-Chris Jericho.   Well guess what. 

RAW is Jericho once again!!  What next--  ...come on Rock...  come on, just gimme a "people's elbow" just for laughs one more time!!

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Crazy video of the week: ATV Human Slingshot!

Did you ever watch Tom and Jerry or Wile E. Coyote as a kid and think "I can do that in real life when I get big!" Well it looks like you were not alone...

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