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Aya Sameshima Now Playing for Montpellier in France

Because Aya Sameshima is a popular search term for this blog, I decided to follow up on her story. After the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Aya Sameshima and her Tepco Mareeze teammates were sent to new homes. Sameshima ended up in the United States playing for the Boston Breakers after Japan’s Women’s World Cup…

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NFL Game Pass – The Best Way to Watch NFL Football from Japan

If you are living in Japan and need a football fix, there are several things you can do from some of the underground live feeds that are more often used to broadcast soccer matches all over the world. I relied on these for a while but found them to be unreliable, and to sometimes be…

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Aqua Timez Rock Vocalist Futoshi Shreds Japanese National Anthem – Kimi Ga Yo

The internet is alive with comments about how bad the Aqua Timez rock band’s lead vocalist Futoshi’s rendering of Kimi Ga Yo. Now, in defense of Futoshi, that is a hard song to do well and is definitely out of his genre. Aqua Timez is a fine band, especially as Japanese rock bands go, so…

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Japanese High School Baseball – Team Has an Awesome JPop School Song

Although many schools make an effort to keep a school song at least somewhat timely and fun to sing, and there are a lot of good school songs around Japan with the inevitable charismatic brass band to play it as well as they can… Shigakukan High School in Nagoya city, Aichi Prefecture has a great JPop…

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Saki Kumagai and Japan Women’s Soccer Team in a Small Scandal

Saki Kumagai, the Japan defender most World Cup fans will remember as being just a moment late on Alex Morgan’s goal in the World Cup final game this year, has been warned by the Japan Football Association. All of her pending media appearances have also been put on hold. The player attended a celebration party…

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Wedding Bells for Member of Japan Women’s World Cup Soccer Championship Team

As Japan enjoys the honeymoon after a historic World Cup Finals victory, one starting member of Japan’s Women’s Soccer Team will be preparing for a real honeymoon sometime in the near future. As she and the rest of the team were still on the pitch celebrating their victory, about 30 minutes after the deciding goal…

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Great Collection of Photos from 2011 World Cup Finals Nadeshiko Japan

Even the new 2011 World Cup Champions, Nadeshiko Japan have jobs. Most of them play for company affiliated teams in Japan’s corporate league. This means that aside from training and playing in games, they have regular jobs they do during the off-season. One such player is Aya Sameshima, who is with the Boston Breakers now…

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Japan Women’s Soccer Player Aya Sameshima Finds New Home After Earthquake and Tsunami

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that recently hit Japan, Tokyo Electric has been much aligned for its handling of its nuclear plants and power supply. One other casualty of the situation is the disbanding of ToDen’s (short for Tokyo Denryoku) women’s soccer team. Also called TepCo, Tokyo Electric’s team called the Mareeze…

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Japan’s Women’s Soccer / Football World Cup Team 2011 – Nadeshiko Japan

Japan refers to its Women’s World Cup Soccer Team as “Nadeshiko Japan”. They have only had limited success on the world stage, but in the 2011 world cup, after a huge upset of German, it looks as if they are going to be garnering the attention of a much arger audience than usual. This article…

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24 Hour TV Marathon Runner for 2011 Will Be Kazuo Tokumitsu

Every year, Nihon Terebi, also known as the Nippon Television Network has a 24 hour telethon. The telethon, known as 24 Hour TV (Love Will Save the World) always features an entertainer as a marathon runner. The marathon runner’s training and story are featured throughout the weeks leading up to 24 Hour TV, and during…

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Japanese Athletes that Command the Highest Pay for Commercials

As a sort of counterpart to my previous post about what sports impress Japanese women, Gendai Business recently came out with a list of the Japanese athletes who are highest paid for commercials. This list mixes pro and amateur athletes. 1. Ryo Ishikawa – (golf) – 120 million yen 2. Ichiro Suzuki (baseball, Seattle Mariners)…