Japan’s national team began its World Baseball Classic campaign with a commanding victory on March 6th, defeating Taiwan 13-0 in a seven-inning mercy-rule game in Group C of the first round at Tokyo Dome.
The Tokyo Marathon was held on March 1st along a course running from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to Tokyo Station, with Suguru Osako, who holds the Japanese national record and competes for Li-Ning, finishing 12th in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 59 seconds to post the best result among Japanese runners in the men’s race.
Olympic gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, the pair known as “RikuRyu,” spoke at a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on February 25th, reflecting on their victory in pair skating at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the determination that carried them through the competition.
Basketball is booming in Japan. The national team has competed in back-to-back Olympics for the first time since the 1970s.
Nearly 35,000 runners raced through the streets of Osaka on February 22nd as the Osaka Marathon, now in its 14th year, was held in unseasonably warm conditions reminiscent of late April.
Ryutaro Hazuki, a player for the Hiroshima Carp who has been indicted on charges of using a designated drug known as “zombie tobacco,” was released on bail on February 18th.