LOS ANGELES - Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first Japanese player to reach 300 career home runs in Major League Baseball, hitting a solo shot in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles on July 7.
Ohtani’s 20th home run of the season came in his ninth year in the majors, marking another milestone in a career that has redefined expectations for Japanese players in MLB.
Source: Kyodo
An explosion at Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, caused part of the second floor to collapse, leaving many people feared trapped as firefighters rushed to begin rescue operations.
A powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture at around 4:27 p.m. on July 28, registering the highest level of 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale and prompting a tsunami advisory for coastal areas.
Typhoon No. 13 is forecast to move north at violent strength through the weekend, while torrential rain, sudden thunderstorms and dangerous heat threaten wide areas of Japan on July 28.
Temples that have long shaped Japanese life and culture are increasingly closing and being put up for sale as falling numbers of parishioners and a shortage of successors leave many religious institutions unable to continue operating.
Typhoon No. 13, which formed on the afternoon of July 27, is expected to intensify rapidly into a violent storm as it draws in clusters of highly developed clouds, though forecasts remain sharply divided over whether it will eventually approach Japan.
Sekiwake Aonishiki said he will target sumo’s highest rank after winning his third career championship at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament and securing an immediate return to ozeki.
World Boxing Council bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue will face top-ranked challenger and former kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa in a highly anticipated rematch at Toyota Arena Tokyo on September 27, organizers announced on July 23.
Former professional tennis player Rika Hiraki, who won the mixed doubles title at the 1997 French Open, has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a romance scam.
Japan's largest pickleball facility has opened in Higashiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, with 20 courts available by reservation as the town seeks to establish itself as a leading destination for the fast-growing sport.
Foreign tourists are filling an interactive sumo show venue in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, where former wrestlers introduce the basics, rules and history of the sport in English as Japan’s traditional pastime enjoys growing popularity at home and abroad.
Waseda Jitsugyo held off a ninth-inning rally by Hachioji to win a first-round showdown between two schools with Koshien experience in the West Tokyo high school baseball tournament on July 10.
Japan national soccer team coach Hajime Moriyasu, captain Ko Itakura of Ajax, Daizen Maeda of Celtic, Yukinari Sugawara of Bremen and Japan Football Association President Tsuneyasu Miyamoto visited Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Yohei Matsumoto on July 8 following Japan's campaign at the FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first Japanese player to reach 300 career home runs in Major League Baseball, hitting a solo shot in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies in Los Angeles on July 7.
