publications

Toreba no Toraba: JapanBall Debuts in Okinawa!

Toreba no Toraba: JapanBall Debuts in Okinawa!

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから You know you’ve found the perfect job when you find yourself shaking your head going, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this. Honestly, I’d do it for free.” At the end of February, I found myself in exactly that situation. (Don’t tell my boss what…

Toreba no Toraba: Fake It Until You Make It!

Toreba no Toraba: Fake It Until You Make It!

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから Ever feel like you didn’t belong somewhere? Like you were way out of your league? I bet the young Hanshin Tigers players are feeling just that as they head to spring training. I mean, they are standing alongside the champions of Nippon Professional Baseball and trying to…

Toreba no Toraba: Les Maruo – Never Giving Up!

Toreba no Toraba: Les Maruo – Never Giving Up!

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから This offseason, just like so many in the past, has left baseball fans pining for the return of their favorite pastime. At the same time, two of Japan’s most hallowed playing grounds were converted into a different surface for one game that would determine a different sort…

Toreba no Toraba: Cursed or Just Really Bad?

Toreba no Toraba: Cursed or Just Really Bad?

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから The Hanshin Tigers have won the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years, ending the second-longest drought in NPB. (The Carp have now gone 39 seasons without a championship, and will be playing for their first in 40 years next season.) Thanks in large part…

Toreba no Toraba: Why No Japan Series Streaming Service?

Toreba no Toraba: Why No Japan Series Streaming Service?

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから The Hanshin Tigers have been having themselves a dream season, winning their first Central League pennant in 18 years and sweeping their way through the Final Stage of the Climax Series. On the other side of NPB, the Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League by a long…

H-TEN Featured in Yomiuri Newspaper!

H-TEN Featured in Yomiuri Newspaper!

The professional baseball Climax Series is underway and things are heating up. The Hanshin Tigers won their first Central League pennant in 18 years. Through covering the team, we have come across various passionate fans. What exactly draws them to the team so powerfully? This time, we look at a foreigner and an artisan, and…

H-TEN Featured in Sankei Newspaper!

H-TEN Featured in Sankei Newspaper!

Source: Sankei Newspaper (October 4, 2023) “What’s All the Ruckus About?” A Canadian Delivers Tigers News as Kansai Celebrates Hanshin’s Pennant The passionate fan base of the Hanshin Tigers, winners of the Central League pennant for the first time in 18 years, is not limited to Kansai or even Japan. A Canadian living in Nishinomiya,…

Toreba no Toraba: Foreign Hanshin Fans Across Japan

Toreba no Toraba: Foreign Hanshin Fans Across Japan

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから So this is what it feels like to be a fan of the champs. The Tigers nation, myself included, is still basking in the glory of it all, in part because of the frantic pace at which the team went from tenuously holding the lead in the…

Toreba no Toraba: HT Fans Worldwide Long for A.R.E.

Toreba no Toraba: HT Fans Worldwide Long for A.R.E.

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから It was an August for the ages, was it not? The Tigers only lost one series during its “Road of Death” and ended their time away from Koshien with an incredible 18-5 record. It surely was a great time to watch the Tigers do their thing. Unfortunately…

Toreba no Toraba: A Unique Friendship with Murton (Not Mine)

Toreba no Toraba: A Unique Friendship with Murton (Not Mine)

From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから I once had a dream of becoming a sports journalist. I think I was caught up with the vague idea that being in the locker room with a championship team amidst the champagne shower frenzy was as good as life could get. Along the way, my aspirations…