KING OF THE RING
When the annual Spring Grand Sumo Tournament got underway in Osaka on March 9, all eyes were on Asashoryu, the Mongolia-born Sumo wrestler who had just been promoted to yokozuna (the top rank in sumo).
(March 26, 2003)

DOUBLE DESERT TRIUMPH
At the 2003 Paris-Dakar Rally, Hiroshi Masuoka, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, became the first Japanese ever to win the race's overall championship two years in a row and only the fourth person ever to accomplish this feat in the event's history.
(March 11, 2003)

FAREWELL TAKANOHANA
At the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in January 2003, Takanohana, sumo's sixty-fifth yokozuna (grand champion), retired from active competition at the age of 30.
(March 10, 2003)

WINTER ASIAN GAMES
The Fifth Winter Asian Games, Asia's sports festival of snow and ice, are being held from February 1 to 8 in Aomori Prefecture, located on the northernmost tip of Japan's main island of Honshu.
(February 5, 2003)

AT THE TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD
At the men's World Golf Championships held in Mexico in December 2002, the Japanese team of Shigeki Maruyama and Toshimitsu Izawa held off a powerful US team to claim victory.
(January 27, 2003)

GRAY PING-PONG POWER
A woman has risen to new heights in Japanese table tennis with a most remarkable record. She is Kazuko Ito, and at the December 2002 Japan Table Tennis Championship, she notched up her hundredth career win in the women's singles competition at the age of 67.
(January 24, 2003)

MAKING IT BIG
Sumo, Japan's national sport by popular acclaim if not by official designation, is undergoing a wave of internationalization as foreign-born wrestlers climb the ranks.
(January 14, 2003)

HAVE FOOT, WILL TRAVEL
The exploits of Hidetoshi Nakata and other Japanese soccer players who belong to European teams are featured on TV and in newspapers every day. It seems that fans just cannot get enough of these homegrown stars as they make their names on the world stage.
(January 8, 2003)

GODZILLA GOES STATESIDE
On November 1 the star of Japan's most popular pro baseball team, Tokyo's Yomiuri Giants, announced his desire to play in the U.S. Major Leagues from next season.
(December 27, 2002)

SCHOOL SPORTS DAYS
Sports days are one of the classic symbols of autumn in Japan and are held in kindergartens, in elementary, middle, and high schools, and in communities all across the country.
(November 18, 2002)

HE'S BACK
Sumo champion Takanohana recently returned from a knee injury to take part in the autumn tournament after an absence of one year and four months, rekindling interest in the sport.
(October 23, 2002)

NO HOLDS BARRED
A style of fighting known as mixed martial arts is currently enjoying a boom in Japan.
(October 17, 2002)

SWIMMING STRONG
Japan's strength in the sport of swimming appears to stem from the zeal of its people for swim training.
(September 19, 2002)

COMING TO JAPAN
Japanese professional baseball received its first Cuban import this July, as Omar Linares, an Olympic gold medalist in 1992 and 1996, joined the Chunichi Dragons.
(August 21, 2002)

SUMO'S NEW KID ON THE BLOCK
Sumo, Japan's national sport, recently welcomed its first ever Mongolian ozeki, 21-year-old Asashoryu (real name: Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj). He is the fourth foreign ozeki, following in the footsteps of Konishiki, Akebono, and Musashimaru, who are all from Hawaii.
(August 19, 2002)

ANYONE FOR FUTSAL?
During the World Cup, many Japanese people became hooked on the global language of soccer. Futsal, or five-a-side soccer, has capitalized on these feelings among fans. The number of people playing this sport in Japan is rising sharply.
(August 12, 2002)

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY
More and more middle-aged and older people in Japan are making their childhood dreams come true by taking off into the air on paragliders.
(August 1, 2002)

THANKS FOR THE WORLD CUP MEMORIES
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, captivated the Japanese public throughout June.
(July 8, 2002)

ON TOP OF THE WORLD
With the number of middle-aged and elderly Japanese mountaineers seeking to challenge the world's peaks increasing, three Japanese climbers set new world records in May.
(July 1, 2002)

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME
In a survey on spectator sports, Japanese professional baseball was the number-one choice of fans for the eighth year in a row.
(May 28, 2002)

HERE THEY COME!
2002 FIFA World Cup competing teams have been arriving at their camp venues around Japan.
(May 21, 2002)

WOMEN MUSCLE UP
Martial arts schools and boxing gyms are taking in more and more female students, and a boxing gym exclusively for women has also been established.
(March 26, 2002)

LESS THAN THREE MONTHS TO GO
Teams are beginning in earnest their final preparations for the first World Cup of the twenty-first century.
(March 22, 2002)

GETTING READY FOR KICK-OFF
The first FIFA World Cup of the twenty-first century, to be jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea, will begin on May 31. Japan, which qualified automatically for the finals as one of the host nations, began preparing for the tournament in late January.
(February 28, 2002)

SALT LAKE CITY, HERE WE COME!
Most of the athletes who will represent Japan at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah have been selected.
(January 30, 2002)

LONG-DISTANCE LOVE AFFAIR
Marathons and other long-distance running events are immensely popular in Japan, and one such race has become an essential New Year custom. The Tokyo-Hakone Ofuku Daigaku Ekiden is one of the most popular such events in the sporting calendar.
(January 29, 2002)

ICHIRO'S INCREDIBLE YEAR
Japanese baseball fans were mesmerized throughout the year by the play of Major League outfielder Ichiro.
(January 10, 2002)

WORLD CUP GROUPINGS DECIDED
The groupings for the first round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan were decided at the draw in Busan, South Korea, on December 1.
(December 28, 2001)

MR. BASEBALL SHEDS HIS UNIFORM
Japan's most popular pro baseball team, the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, lost its long-time player and manager, Shigeo Nagashima, when he retired at the end of the 2001 season.
(November 28, 2001)

THE OTHER OLYMPICS
The sixth World Games, an international multi-sports spectacle featuring events not included in the Olympic Games, took place from August 16 to 26 in the northern prefecture of Akita. Some 4,000 athletes and officials from 87 countries and regions participated in the quadrennial event, providing thrilling competition.
(October 11, 2001)

SPREADING THEIR WINGS
Six candidates for Japan's World Cup squad will play the coming season abroad, all of them in their early twenties. Never before have so many Japanese stars plied their trade overseas at the same time. Fans in Japan have great expectations for what they can achieve playing alongside some of the biggest soccer stars in the world.
(August 24, 2001)

MAD ABOUT THE MAJOR LEAGUES
Major League Baseball fever has struck Japan this year, and the exploits of Japanese baseball players active in the United States are reported in detail on the nightly news and covered extensively throughout the media. This sudden popularity of Major League Baseball is due in large part to outfielder Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners.
(August 20, 2001)

SOCCER FEVER GAINS MOMENTUM
One year before the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which will be held jointly in Japan and South Korea, the popularity of soccer in Japan is on the up. It is still unclear whether soccer's popularity will last, but what is certain is that Japan has entered a period in which the public's interest in sport is not limited to baseball.
(July 25, 2001)