Baseball

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    フチューで「ナイス・タ－・ミッチュー」

    There’s McDonald’s in just about every town in Japan, but in Fuchu at the moment, there’s a couple of MacDonalds with a very special story, indeed.　日本全国どこへ行ってもマクドナルドはある。でも今、東京・府中にある“マクドナルド”はちょっとワケが違う。 Connor and Callum MacDonald are brothers from Brisbane, and both professional sports people whose games took them to different sides of the world….except for now.　ブリスベン出身の兄弟、コナー・マクドナルドとカラム・マクドナルド。ともにプロアスリートとして世界を股にかけて戦ってきた2人のキャリアが、いま再び交差している。 Connor MacDonald is in Fuchu as part of the Australian team taking part in the Japan leg of the World Baseball Classic, which will be held in Tokyo in March. The Aussies are based in Fuchu, which they have made their home away from home for the third time, and join a long list of Australian sporting teams to…

  • A Ripper Night With All The Bunting And Foul Balls

    There was a time in my life when I loved Japanese baseball, but I eventually got turned off and drifted away from the game. This week, though, a great mate persuaded me to go and watch a game at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, and I had the time of my life. It was tremendous fun. Like most Aussies of my generation, I’m sports mad, so it was almost natural for me to take an interest in baseball, Japan’s most popular game, when I got here in the late 1980s. I loved it and went to watch the occasional game. My later work would involve me taking a professional interest…

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    Football, Meat Pies, Samurais, And…Penny Farthings?

    After a fairly busy weekend in which I was constantly busy, but never really got much of note done. I could, however, look back and say that at least I had encountered football, meat pies, Samurais and….well, not the Chevorlet or Holden cars the old ads talked about, but, um, penny farthings. Rides on Friday and Saturday traversed the Sekiya no Kiridoshi, a samurai road connecting Onojijuku, an inn from the Edo period (1603-1868), and the road into Edo, the predecessor of Tokyo. It’s a delightful, bucolic setting and photogenic. Saturday afternoon was devoted to study, then calling family and catching up on the latest news, which was unfortunately that…