Japan and Australia have not traditionally shared the same sporting preferences, with Australia choosing Aussie Rules and cricket while Japan preferred baseball and sumo. But the great friends are increasingly becoming sporting rivals, too, in soccer and rugby as sporting fields have broadened in recent decades. Learn more here.
「日本とオーストラリアは、これまでスポーツの好みがあまり重なってきませんでした。オーストラリアはオージールールズやクリケット、日本は野球や相撲を中心に発展してきたためです。ところが近年、競技の幅が広がるにつれ、サッカーやラグビーでは“仲良し同士”がライバル関係になる場面も増えてきました。詳しくはこちらでどうぞ
オーストラリア人はどのように静かなスキーの町・ニセコを変えたのか？ That began to change when Australian skiers started returning home with stories of dry, light snow, uncrowded slopes and a long ski season. Word spread quickly. Friends recommended Niseko to friends, ski clubs organised group trips, and specialist travel companies began offering packages to Hokkaido. In the early 1990s, Niseko was already known among…
なぜオーストラリア人はニセコに魅了されたのか？ For many Australians today, Niseko is synonymous with powder snow, winter holidays and a taste of Japan. Yet few realise that Australians played a significant role in introducing this once-quiet corner of Hokkaido to the wider world. The story of Australians and Niseko is not simply about skiing. It is a story of curiosity,…
Of the many commonalities shared by Australia and Japan, perhaps one of the quirkier ones is that both countries are home to a Kobe Steele known for monkeying around. Australia’s Kobe Steele founded the Orangutan Foundation International Australia (OFI Australia), and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2021 for her services…
Ronnie Biggs and the Great Train Robbery were pretty well-known among my generation of Australians growing up, and recognition of the famous long-term fugitive was enough in Japan for his 2014 death to be widely reported. What is less established, however, is that both Japan and Australia have a much closer connection to the crook…
For decades, Japan had a professional basketball team called the Super Kangaroos, and true to the team’s name, it made great leaps at times. The Matsushita Electric Super Kangaroos, which would later be renamed the Panasonic Super Kangaroos, were founded in 1951 and competed in Japan’s top company and professional leagues, the old company-based national…
Kangaroos play a prominent role in encouraging kids to take up baseball in the Aichi Prefecture city of Kota. Kosuke the Kangaroo is the marsupial mascot of the Aichi Kota Boys youth baseball club that runs age-group squads including its Kangaroo Kids for first and second graders new to the game. The club has been…
The littlest joeys from the Kangaroo FC youth soccer club in the Chiba Prefecture bed town of Matsudo have won regional tournaments, going from tiny hops to large leaps befitting the team’s monicker. Kangaroo FC’s team of first graders have taken home the Yachiyo Okamura Cup in the past. Kangaroo FC has been around since…
Australian-Japanese prodigy Ayaka Kato-Stafford has created cricket history. The 15-year-old all-rounder made her international debut playing for Japan, a cricketing minnow and still only an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council. But the dual national with a career batting average of 32.67 and bowling average of a miserly 14.25 has been snapped up by…
Australian Sports Day was a fantastic event held at Komazawa Olympic Park yesterday, and I got to go and enjoy some of the proceedings that were a decorative display, (or should I say kazari?), of some of Down Under’s favorite pastimes. The day itself was a ripper, starting with explanations, demonstrations and games of cricket,…
Japan did the most amazing job of hosting the Olympic Games under the mostr trying of circumstances, and I would argue there probably isn’t a country on earth that could have done it nearly as well. But the big question is: Why? We held the Games behind closed doors. Only the most privileged of guests…
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