Sports

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

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    The Japan-Australia Link To The Great Train Robbery

    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 than many in either country know. Biggs was one of a gang of about 16 people who carried out the Great Train Robbery in 1963, making off with 2.61 million pounds (worth about 12.16 billion yen today). Biggs used his share of the haul to pay for almost 40 years on the run, most famously…

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    Panasonic Super Kangaroos Pouched A History With Plenty Of Bounce

    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 competitions, JBL Super League from 2000 to 2007 and then the successor Japan Basketball League where it would eventually relocate and change its name to the Wakayama Panasonic Trians. The Super Kangaroos would win 13 league championships throughout its existence in various top flight competitions. Sadly, the team never made it to the bj league,…

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    Little League Laps Up Kanga Clout

    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 around since 2009 but has not given a public explanation for why it chose the kangaroo as the animal to promote its game. It’s possibly because youth teams often pick animal names to sound friendly and energising. A kangaroo fits a young-players programme because it suggests bouncy energy, protection and youthfulness — easy, family-friendly branding…

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    Kangaroo FC’s Kids Turn Hops Into Large Leaps

    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 1981 and looks to be a youth team powerhouse. Nor do I know why a club from a city best known for being a bed town community for commuters to the capital chose to be the kangaroos. It’s possible the team chose the kangaroo because it evokes jumping, speed, and protecting younger players. And the…

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    Superstar Prodigy Makes Cricketing History

    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 Australia, cricket’s most powerful nation, to play for its powerful under-19 team. Her phenomenal achievement has been lauded by the Japan Cricket Association. Few Japan Australia developments have given me the pleasure that Kato-Stafford’s elevation to the top grade under-age competition. Here’s hoping she keeps up the great progress, promoting cricket in Japan and Japanese…

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    Up There, Kazari!

    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, moving on to games of footy and then ending with a netball exhibition, with sales of Aussie foods, wear and fare such as meat pies and banana bread and cuppas from Club Australia‘s Tad Watanabe and the Australia Cafe van. Needing to deal with duties in the garden and home and able to enjoy lunch…

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    Putting The Limp Into Olympics

    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 were able to see the athletes do their thing, and I’m sure the quarantining rules were broken for many. Personally, I got to see almost nothing. I saw none of the downtown Tokyo events, but did get to perform an errand near Horse Park, where the equestrian events were held. The park was surrounded by…

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    No Wonder the Wallabies Were Wallies in RWC2019

    Australia’s rugby team, the Wallabies, were ignominiously dumped from the 2019 Rugby World Cup that Japan is currently hosting (and being lauded for both its organization skills and the rousing performance of its unfancied team). The Wallabies lost badly to England in a quarter final, mostly because they were not good enough as a team. But Kangaeroo.com has also discovered another reason for the Wallabies’ woes. Gorgeous Jindaiji Temple, which supported the Wallabies’ woeful World Cup, is situated in the Tokyo suburb of Chofu, location of the Aussies’ group stage loss against Wales on September 29 that effectively derailed their campaign on the field. Jindaiji had proudly displayed Wallabies jerseys…

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    (Costumed) Kangaroo Stars In The “Worst Sports Movie Ever Made”

    Matilda has been described online as “the worst sports movie ever made.” Kindly, as it turns out.Matilda was a dreadful, alleged comedy about a boxing kangaroo that challenges for the world heavyweight champion title.The movie was made in 1978, when Muhammad Ali was probably at his most widely popular (and the reigning world champion), and starred Elliot Gould, who was then still not too far off the peak of a career that continues going strong today.Co-starring was another A-lister, Robert Mitchum, so it’s hard to argue that the cast and circumstances surrounding the movie didn’t pack a punch.Unfortunately, the kangaroo featured in the film was clearly a bloke in a…