News On Japan

Yokohama F Marinos beat Vissel Kobe 3-1 for 5th J.League title

KOBE - Yokohama F Marinos sealed the J-League first-division championship on a hectic final day of the season Saturday, beating Vissel Kobe 3-1 as title rivals and two-time defending holders Kawasaki Frontale overcame FC Tokyo 3-2 despite being reduced to 10 men.

Starting the day two points ahead of prefectural rivals Frontale in the standings and with a double-digit lead in goal difference, Marinos were all but guaranteed their fifth title if they could muster a draw on the road at Noevir Stadium.

But Kevin Muscat's side stayed true to form and aggressively pushed for all three points, with Takuma Nishimura poaching the decisive goal after Kobe keeper Yuya Tsuboi spilled a free kick early in the second half.

A miscued clearance gave Elber the opportunity to nod home the opener for Marinos in the 26th minute before Yoshinori Muto headed an equalizer in first-half injury time. Marinos talisman Teruhito Nakagawa tapped in off Kota Mizunuma's cross to complete the scoring in the 73rd minute.

The result secured Marinos' first title since 2019, when another Australian manager, Ange Postecoglou, was at the helm, while ending Frontale's bid for their fifth J1 crown in six seasons. ...continue reading

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Typhoon No. 18 remained a strong storm as it passed near Minamidaito Island on August 25, with Okinawa's main island and the Amami region expected to experience their most severe rain, winds and waves late at night through around midnight. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the typhoon was near Minamidaito Island at 9 a.m. on August 25 and was moving west-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.

The Japanese government plans to reuse low-radioactivity soil generated by decontamination work after the Fukushima nuclear accident at government office complexes in Saitama and Sendai, marking the first such reuse outside Tokyo.

An 85-year-old couple have donated a combined 400 million yen to Osaka City with a request that the money be used to create a giant Myaku-Myaku statue about 20 meters tall at the former site of the Osaka-Kansai Expo, envisioning a landmark that could become a lasting symbol of the event and of renewed prosperity for Kansai and Japan.

Lawson plans to cut prices on its main line of onigiri rice balls by 10 yen from September 29 as falling rice prices begin to feed through to retail costs.

Police have established a temporary police post in the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, ahead of the September 1 opening of the annual drive hunt for whales and dolphins.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Sports NEWS

Around 1,500 competitors from across Japan gathered in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, for the National Goldfish Scooping Championship, testing their skills in three-minute contests to determine the country's best goldfish scoopers.

Japan's delegation for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held a team formation ceremony at a hotel in Tokyo on August 19, exactly one month before the competition opens, with wrestler Akari Fujinami pledging that the athletes would "fight through to the very end" on home soil.

Organizers of the Asian Games and Asian Para Games are preparing evacuation plans for athletes and officials staying in temporary container houses and a cruise ship at Nagoya Port, with around 20,000 participants and related personnel expected to visit Aichi Prefecture during the 23-day competition period beginning September 19.

STAGE:0, one of Japan's largest esports tournaments for high school students, has opened in Osaka, bringing together more than 2,000 teams from across the country to compete for the title of national champion.

Teqball, a sport combining elements of soccer and table tennis, will make its Asian Games debut when the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games open in September, giving Japan's players a major opportunity to raise the profile of a discipline that has so far attracted relatively little attention domestically.

Major sporting goods retailer Alpen is opening Alpen OSAKA, one of the largest sports and lifestyle stores in the Kansai region, at the former Uniqlo site in Osaka's Chayamachi district, with six floors offering everything from running shoes and golf equipment to hands-on product testing.

On August 3, 2026, Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced the launch of the "Thoroughbred Championship Series" to determine the top 3-year-old thoroughbred, starting next season, as reported by Sponichi Annex.

Wakana Uchikoshi, a 27-year-old recruitment professional at Ajinomoto AGF, has built a demanding but rewarding life that combines her weekday corporate career with twice-weekly practices as a cheerleader for a company-affiliated American football team.