97-98 | Sports | Memory Lane | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
In recent years athletes from Japan - the home of traditional martial arts like karate and kendo - have making their mark in all kinds of disciplines, including Major League Baseball and top European soccer leagues. Read about their exploits here.

Sports 2005-2006 | Archives | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan Archives Strength In Numbers Clothes that Keep You Fit 600 Million Yen Baby Grappling for the Top Spot Keeping Mountains Clean Dreaming of Germany The Arakawa Effect Trainer to the Ch

Sports 2007-2008 | Archives | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
Trends in Japan Archives Born To Run Ice Dreams Dream Matchup This site uses JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings. Go to the main text. Text: small normal large Search sea

95-96 | Sports | Memory Lane | Trends in Japan | Web Japan
In recent years athletes from Japan - the home of traditional martial arts like karate and kendo - have making their mark in all kinds of disciplines, including Major League Baseball and top European soccer leagues. Read about their exploits here.

Action Simulation Games - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Here a person swings a baseball bat, over there another shoots a soccer ball, and still others beat Japanese drums or dance to music. They're all soaking with sweat, and they're all in the same space. Where is this?

Dance Exercise - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
More and more Japanese kids are moving their bodies to a swinging tempo while singing feel-good melodies. Singing Ai-da Aida Ai-da Aida in unison, they jump, dodge, and twist to the rhythm. "My body just starts to move whenever I hear the music," says one. Dance-like exercise is growing in popularity.

Showdown - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On August 6 a plane touched down at the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita carrying 14 little leaguers from New York, their manager, parents, and others. They were coming to play a group of young all-stars from Tokyo in the Tokyo-New York Friendship Baseball Series, played using a special rubber-coated ball.

Kobe - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
On January 17, 2001, the sixth anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that claimed more than 6,400 lives, 50 runners set out on a cross-country journey carrying messages of thanks from citizens of the hardest-hit port city of Kobe to volunteers who came to their aid from all over the country.

Sailing - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
The 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, which came to a close on October 14, were described by the Japanese delegation leader as "the toughest games ever." But two middle-school kids still managed to win gold and silver medals for Japan.

Go - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Have you ever heard of go? Two people take turns placing black and white stones on a large wooden board. The player that controls more territory at the end of the game is the winner. This game is hugely popular with elementary and middle school students now.

Jump Rope - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Jump rope is popular the world over as a recreation and, more recently, a sport. Recently, many Japanese elementary school kids have been enjoying it as a competitive sport. Part of the reason for the rise in popularity is that a jump-rope national championship for junior athletes was held in Japan last year.

Beyblades - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
"Three, two, one, go shoot!" Since the beginning of this year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of elementary school students who can be seen standing in circles in toy stores or on street corners calling out these words as they battle with tops. These kids are called "bladers," and they spin plastic tops in a dish-shaped "stadium" about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in diameter. Two players spin their tops at the same time, and the battle between the tops is so intense that sometimes even sparks can be seen. The match is won when one top pushes the other out of the stadium or spins longer than the other.

Bob Sapp - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
A two-meter giant of a man weighing 170 kilograms and known as "The Beast" has captured the imagination of boys across Japan. Bob Sapp, a 28-year-old martial arts fighter from the United States, has a somewhat intimidating face and gigantic body that give him a frightening appearance. But children who love martial arts are fascinated by him and say, "Those muscles - he's superhuman!" And even kids who aren't crazy about martial arts adore him. Why? The secret lies in his curious character.

Unicycles - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Since around 10 years ago, more and more Japanese kids have been riding unicycles. At elementary schools and middle schools, you can see kids riding them around during recess or as a club activity. Some kids are really devoted; in 1992, a Kobe middle schooler named Akira Matsushima, who was 15 years old at the time, rode across North America on an oversized unicycle called the Big Wheel, covering a distance of about 5,400 kilometers, or 3,355 miles.

Lure Fishing - What's Cool in Japan - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Fishing for sport in Japan has usually meant using live bait. But over the past few years, a new technique that was introduced from the West has been enjoying a quiet boom--and not just with adults but also with kids, mainly boys in elementary or middle school. Lures that are made to look like worms, small fish, and other live bait are used to trick the fish into thinking it's the real thing.

Thirty-one-legged Race - Kids in Action - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
An event known as the 31-legged race is popular right now among Japanese elementary school students. In this event, 30 classmates line up in a single row with their legs tied together at the ankles. There is even a 31-legged race national championship for elementary school students, which is broadcast on national TV.

Bosnia - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
During the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998, Sanbonyanagi Elementary School in Nagano supported Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the "one school, one nation" program, where each local school learned about and supported one country during the games. Now friendship between students in Nagano and Sarajevo has grown strong.

Everest - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
A Japanese alpinist-adventurer who became the youngest in the world to stand atop the highest peaks in the seven continents by scaling Mount Everest at the age of 25 in May 1999 returned to the world's tallest mountain a year later to clean up garbage left by his peers over the years.

Bike Trek - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Two Japanese schoolboys, accompanied by their parents, are in the middle of a trans-America trek on mountain bikes from New York to San Francisco, an adventure covering a distance of some 5,000 kilometers in two-and-a-half months.

Ai-chan - Monthly News - Archives - Kids Web Japan - Web Japan
Known as a table tennis genius since she was just three years old, Ai Fukuhara, now a sixth grader at Taisho Kita Elementary School in Yao, Osaka Prefecture, has become the youngest girl ever to be a member of the all-Japan table tennis squad.