An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
May 26th, 2010. The day the misery ended. In honor of Tsubamegun’s first and (as yet) only official holiday, we’re giving away a limited edition gift to whomsoever best answers one of the following questiony: 1) In your opinion, what was the best Tokyo Swallows off-field moment? 2) Which NPB team has done a good job [...]
This is part two of a three-part interview series with some of the regulars from the NPB mainstream and independent media. Click here for part one: OYWI: NPB Moving Forward? After a detailed trip through some of the prevailing wisdom on NPB in general, which we’ll return to in the next edition of this interview [...]
Ah, the beloved Tak-bunt. Tokyo’s current manager didn’t fib when he said that he wasn’t going to make many changes to the way that the team was coached after taking over for Takada at the end of May. The Tak-bunting continued, but thankfully not at the same rate that it had been previously employed. For the [...]
Monthly Roundup is a new series in which I hope to look back on a month of Swallows baseball and make various observations and comments. How We Got There: The Swallows came into the month of May on a 5 game losing streak, with an overall record of 11-17-1. Things weren’t looking good, but we [...]
You may be asking yourself, who is this man managing the Swallows right now? A quick Google search of his name in English reveals nothing but articles on Takada’s stepping aside. A Japanese Google search doesn’t reveal too much more than rehashes of his Wikipedia entry, but for those of you who don’t read Japanese, [...]
After a bit of a false alarm this morning, Tokyo Swallows’ manager Shiegru Takada has finally stepped aside. The Mainichi is reporting that after tonight’s game against Tohoku, Takada announced to the press that he would be taking a leave of absence. Takada is quoted as saying that he wanted to take responsibility for the [...]
Several Japanese news sources are reporting that current Swallows manager Shigeru Takada has decided to resign. It is being reported that he made his decision yesterday, and that he will be informing team management today. Takada apparently offered his resignation to management on the 20th, but it was not accepted at the time. No formal [...]
The Japan Times‘s Jason Coskrey sounds off in the mainstream press on the futility of allowing Tokyo’s manager, Shigeru Takada, to keep his job until the end of the season. Valid points abound in the article, all of which are in lockstep with what has been uttered on this website and elsewhere. Here’s one choice [...]
Now, if you’re reading this expecting some kind of new high-brow niche in adult entertainment from Japan, please accept my apologies and look elsewhere. This here be about baseball. Just as it did last year, the new Swallows Official Goods Catalogue popped through my letterbox this last week, goading me to waste yet more money [...]
Semi-official injury count for the month of February at the Tokyo Swallows spring camp: 11 players missed all or part of at least one day of practice. In detail, that works out to six pitchers, four catchers, and one infielder. Go, go Swallows! While the six injured pitchers may set off the loudest alarm for [...]
