1959 TOKYO COLD CASE: JAPANESE BOAC STEWARDESS, TOMOKO TAKEKAWA. Crime, scandal, intrigue from Japan
1959 TOKYO COLD CASE: JAPANESE BOAC STEWARDESS, TOMOKO TAKEKAWA. Crime, scandal, intrigue from Japan @tokyoreporter
Before Ghosn: Looking back at unsolved BOAC stewardess murder of 1959
By Tokyo Reporter Staff on May 23, 2020
https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/before-ghosn-unsolved-boac-stewardess-murder-of-1959/
TOKYO (TR) – Last week, police in Massachusetts arrested Michael Taylor, a former special forces soldier, and his son, Peter Taylor.
The pair are wanted by law enforcement in Japan in connection with dramatic escape of Carlos Ghosn, the French-Lebanese former automotive magnate, from Tokyo to Lebanon late last December.
While the Taylors are expected to be extradited to Japan, Ghosn, who was under prosecution for a variety of financial crimes at the time he fled, remains in Lebanon, out of the reach of Japanese authorities.
The flight of Ghosn brings to mind another infamous case involving a foreigner undergoing legal difficulties in Japan. In 1959, police in Tokyo questioned Father Louis Charles Vermeersch, then a 38-year-old Catholic priest, over the murder of airline stewardess Tomoko Takekawa.
During the investigation, the Belgium-born priest was never arrested. But like the saga involving Ghosn, the case, which as never solved, captivated the nation and raised questions about what justice means in Japan.
“Probably strangled”
At around 7:40 a.m. on March 10 of that year, Masayoshi Kubo, a male office worker, spotted the body of Takekawa, a 27-year-old stewardess for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), floating face-up near the Miyashita Bridge in the Zenpukuji River in Suginami Ward.
Police identified the body as being that of Takekawa after finding her high heels, scarf, handbag and parasol scattered nearby. Her body was clothed in a green two-piece suit, a silk blouse, white bra and corset, white underwear and nylons.
The body showed no signs of external wounds, which led investigators to initially think it was a suicide by drowning.
However, drowning was soon ruled out as the cause of death. Tokyo Metropolitan Police later said that the results of an autopsy, conducted at Keio University Hospital, showed only a small amount of water in her lungs. Wire service UPI reported that marks on her neck “indicated that she was probably strangled.”
The results of the autopsy also revealed that she had the semen of two men — possibly of blood types O and A or AB — in her system and on her underwear, a development that caused police to begin seeking out her associates.
“It was for a consultation”
In 1948, Father Vermeersch came to Tokyo, where he was ordained. At the time of the incident, he worked as the head of accounting at Don Bosco Home, a publisher of religious titles. The publisher fell under the Salesians of Don Bosco order. The office was at the Shimoigusa Catholic Church in Suginami.
He became a person of interest after police learned that his name was written in a notebook belonging to Takekawa. They also learned that a special delivery parcel arrived from the publisher at the dormitory where Takekawa lived on March 7, three days before her body was found. Police believed at the time that a letter from Father Vermeersch inside the parcel asked Takekawa to meet with him, UPI reported, citing a Tokyo newspaper.
On Sunday March 8, Takekawa, a Catholic, attended Mass. Later that day, she visited her uncle’s residence near the church for lunch. At around 3:00 p.m., she left for “a birthday party” in Ushigome, Shinjuku. She was never seen again.
UPI reported that she was known to have taken the letter when she departed her dormitory earlier that day. That letter as not present upon the discovery of her body two days later.
Though there was speculation in the media that Father Vermeersch had gone missing in April — perhaps even had fled the country — that was not the case. In fact, he agreed to undergo questioning. In the company of a secretary from the Vatican and a lawyer, the priest was grilled by renowned detective Hachibe Hiratsuka, who presided over a number of high-profile investigations after the end of World War II. The questioning took place in two periods, one between May 11 and 13 another on May 20 and 22.
During the sessions, Father Vermeersch admitted to taking Takekawa to a hotel in the Harajuku area of Shibuya Ward. “It was for a consultation,” he reportedly said in denying that they were involved in a relationship. “That’s all that it was.”
The sessions wore on Father Vermeersch, who began suffering from anemia. At one point exhaustion caused him to enter a hospital, which wound up stalling the investigation.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT:
https://www.tokyoreporter.com/crime/before-ghosn-unsolved-boac-stewardess-murder-of-1959/
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More MLB gambling scandals likely in the future: Robert Whiting's Japan
More MLB gambling scandals likely in the future
ROBERT WHITING JUN 06, 2024
https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/more-mlb-gambling-scandals-likely
TOKYO — Is this the tip of the iceberg?
I read with interest the news about the MLB ‘s lifetime ban of San Diego Padres utility infielder Tucupita Marcano, who had placed hundreds of bets on baseball, including 25 last year when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. MLB said Marcano, a lifetime .217 hitter over three major league seasons, had bet more than $150,000 on baseball from October 2022 through Nov. 1, 2023, $87,319 of which was directly on MLB-related action — winning just over 4% of his MLB-related wagers.
This is the second sports gambling scandal of the year. The first being Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara raiding his friend’s bank account to pay millions of dollars for bets on sports. Mizuhara has now pleaded guilty to fraud.
FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT:
https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/more-mlb-gambling-scandals-likely
WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE 7-DAY TRIAL
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TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
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Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Opening Day overshadowed by cloud hanging over Ohtani in gambling scandal ROBERT WHITING
Opening Day overshadowed by cloud hanging over Ohtani in gambling scandal
ROBERT WHITING MAR 30, 2024
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/opening-day-overshadowed-by-cloud
TOKYO — It’s opening day for MLB and there is a lot to look forward to. Shohei Ohtani looks bigger and stronger than ever before. He has put on more muscle during the offseason, he is in the peak prime of his career, and he has added a wife to his repertoire. It would not be surprising to see him hit 50 home runs hitting in a lineup with Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts — three MVP’s in a row. Pitchers will be reluctant to walk him with such fellow powerhouses in the lineup and, thus, Ohtani will see more good pitches to hit. Sixty homers even seems reasonable.
That’s if, of course, this gambling scandal doesn’t torpedo his season. MLB fans in Japan as well as in North America all got a good introduction to the new reality of sports gambling recently with the publicized adventures of Shohei and Ippei Mizuhara. Version one had Ohtani paying off his good friend’s debts to explain wire transfers to an illegal bookmaker with Ohtani’s name on them, and 24 hours later, Version two, where Ohtani claimed massive theft.
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE GO TO https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/opening-day-overshadowed-by-cloud
WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE 7-DAY TRIAL
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TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Your Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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Song in background is by Mark Schumacher:
Heaven is not far but Heaven is not where you are going
c1986-1987
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Lost in Translation: Shohei is Outta Control!!
Lost in Translation: The March 26th Shohei Ohtani Press Conference Excerpt
Translation provided by the Thamsanqa Jantjie School of Interpretation & Sign Language
#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Bob's Bullets: Ohtani's explanation on Mizuhara's betting scandal lacked clarity. Robert Whiting.
Bob's Bullets: Ohtani's explanation on Mizuhara's betting scandal lacked clarity.
ROBERT WHITING MAR 26, 2024
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/bobs-bullets-ohtanis-explanation
TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani addressed the media today with a brief statement. His new interpreter Will Ireton translated his remarks into English.
“Ippei (Mizuhara) has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani said. “I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.
“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf,” he stressed, “and I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports. and was never asked to assist betting payment for anyone else.”
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE GO TO https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/bobs-bullets-ohtanis-explanation
WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE 7-DAY TRIAL
===================================
TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Robert Whiting: Truth and fiction hard to separate as scandal ensnaring Mizuhara, Ohtani grows.
Robert Whiting's Japan: Truth and fiction hard to separate as scandal ensnaring Mizuhara, Ohtani grows.
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/truth-and-fiction-hard-to-separate
TOKYO — Gambling on sports has been going on for as long as there have been sports, in every country of the world.
In Japan, back in 1970, the ‘Black Mist’ game-fixing scandal almost destroyed Japanese professional baseball. It ended with several players being banned for life. The going rate yakuza were paying at the time to participate in a fix was ¥500,000 per position and ¥1 million for a pitcher. It was said in order for a fix to succeed it was necessary to have a catcher, a pitcher, one infielder and one outfielder in on the scheme. It was not easy to intentionally lose a game. It required finesse.
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE GO TO https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/truth-and-fiction-hard-to-separate
WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE 7-DAY TRIAL
===================================
TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Your Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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More on Shohei OHTANI's interpreter, IPPEI MIZUHARA's SPORTS BETTING SCANDAL: Background/Timeline
Many questions remain to be answered in Mizuhara gambling scandal
ROBERT WHITING
MAR 21, 2024
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/many-questions-remain-to-be-answered
Seattle Mariners Bullpen Catcher, Justin Novak
Baseball Reference https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Justin_Novak
More on Shohei OHTANI's interpreter, IPPEI MIZUHARA's SPORTS BETTING SCANDAL: Background/Timeline
Background:
Mizuhara Ippei (born December 31, 1984) is a Japanese interpreter known for his work with Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. He serves as a Japanese-English and English-Japanese interpreter during Ohtani's media appearances and interactions with teammates. Previously, he interpreted for Hideki Okajima of the Boston Red Sox and English-speaking players of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
Biography:
Early Life:
Mizuhara grew up in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, until the age of six when his father, Hidemasa, a Japanese chef, moved the family to the United States in 1991 to work as a chef in Los Angeles. Throughout his school years, he was active in soccer and basketball clubs. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2007.
As an Interpreter:
Mizuhara's interest in Major League Baseball (MLB) was sparked by Hideo Nomo's success with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In February 2012, he was hired by the New York Yankees as the exclusive interpreter for Hideki Okajima. However, Okajima's contract was terminated due to a failed physical examination, resulting in the termination of Mizuhara's contract.
Returning to Japan in 2012, he became the team interpreter for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, offering support for foreign players such as Brandon Laird and Chris Martin. Mizuhara earned the nickname "Ippei-chan" and was highly regarded by both Japanese and foreign players.
As Shohei Ohtani's Exclusive Interpreter:
In 2017, when Shohei Ohtani transferred from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to the Los Angeles Angels, Mizuhara joined the Angels as Ohtani's personal interpreter. He provides support in both personal and professional capacities, including driving Ohtani and engaging in activities like playing catch with him.
Despite Ohtani's unique schedule, Mizuhara ensures he is not isolated within the team. He actively participates in team activities and fosters camaraderie among players. In 2018, Ohtani gifted him an all-expenses-paid honeymoon ticket as a wedding gift.
During Ohtani's rehabilitation in 2018 and 2019, Mizuhara provided emotional support, engaging in activities to help him relax. Even after Ohtani obtained his U.S. driver's license in February 2020, Mizuhara continued riding in the passenger seat.
In 2021, Mizuhara accompanied Ohtani to the Home Run Derby and acted as a pitcher during the MLB All-Star Game pre-season event. He was recognized as the "MVI" (Most Valuable Interpreter) by the Angels on November 22 of the same year.
During the lockout following MLB's labor agreement negotiations in the off-season of 2021, Mizuhara temporarily left the Angels but rejoined the team after the agreement was signed on March 10.
In the 5th World Baseball Classic in 2023, Mizuhara served as a team interpreter for the Japanese national team alongside Shingo Horie. He also acted as a liaison and interpreter for manager Hideki Kuriyama when Lars Nootbaar, the first Japanese-American to play for the national team, participated in the tournament. Nootbaar expressed gratitude to Mizuhara during the championship press conference, eliciting laughter from those present.
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"Shohei Ohtani interpreter scandal: Piecing together the confusing timeline, based on what we've been told so far"
The scandal has already seen a change in the story from Ohtani's camp
Jack Baer,. Staff writer Fri, Mar 22, 2024
URL https://sports.yahoo.com/shohei-ohtani-interpreter-scandal-piecing-together-the-confusing-timeline-based-on-what-weve-been-told-so-far-014454049.html
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18 U.S. Code § 1084 - Transmission of wagering information; penalties
URL https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1084
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OtaniGambling Ohtani Gambling,
#OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Your Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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Many questions remain to be answered in Mizuhara gambling scandal: ROBERT WHITING'S JAPAN #Ohtani
Robert Whiting's Japan: Many questions remain to be answered in Mizuhara gambling scandal
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/many-questions-remain-to-be-answered
TOKYO — I was shocked to read the news that Ippei Mizuhara, the well-known interpreter and constant companion of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani for the past several years, had been fired by the team for an alleged “massive theft” of millions of dollars from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts.
Ohtani and his representatives have reportedly accused Mizuhara, of stealing funds from the athlete in order to place bets with an illegal bookmaker, one, Mathew Bowyer, whose home was raided by federal agents last year, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The same group has been investigating a large gambling operation in the area. Ohtani’s name was found on a number of wire transfers.
However, the fast-breaking sequence of reports is not without its curiosities.
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE GO TO https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/many-questions-remain-to-be-answered WHERE YOU CAN GET A FREE 7-DAY TRIAL
===================================
TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす #yomiurigiants #baseballhistory #baseballhistory #japanesebaseball #tokyojunkie #tokyounderworld #yougottahavewa @MemeCopium @LegalMindset #OHTANI #MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #TeamIppei #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #FBI #TheWireAct #USCSS1084 #水原一平 #大谷翔平 #MUFJ
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Your Intro by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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Pete Rose: "Well, back in the 70's and 80's, I wish I'd had an interpreter; I'd be scot free.."
Charlie Hustle aka Pete Rose: "Well, back in the 70's and 80's, I wish I'd had an interpreter. I'd be scot free" (from @joshbooty10 )
Pete Rose wishes he had interpreter like Shohei Ohtani: ‘I’d be scot-free’
It was only a matter of time before Pete Rose gave his two cents on the ongoing drama surrounding baseball superstar Shohei Otani and his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara, who allegedly stole $4.5 million from Otani to cover his own gambling debts.
Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader, made what appeared to be a sarcastic comment about the matter in a video posted on Instagram and spread on social media.
ピート・ローズが、野球のスーパースター、大谷翔平と、自身のギャンブルでの借金を補うために大谷から450万ドルを盗んだとされる元通訳の水原一平を巡る現在進行中のドラマについて口論するのは時間の問題だった。
メジャーリーグベースボールの歴代安打王であるローズ氏は、インスタグラムに投稿されソーシャルメディア上に拡散された動画の中で、この件について皮肉と思われるコメントをした。
#MIZUHARA #IppeiMizuhara #ShoheiOhtani #Dodgers #IRS #水原一平 #大谷 #Gamefixing #Bets #Betting #Gambling @robertwhiting_ @TheLegalMindset @MemeCopium #PeteRose Otani , Shohei Otani
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MASHLE マッシュル anime x TRUMP viral Japanese MASHUP #MASHLE #マッシュル #Trump #Japan #blingbangbangborn
Full-version: MASHLE マッシュル anime x TRUMP viral Japanese MASHUP
#MASHLE #マッシュル #Trump #Japan #blingbangbangborn
Someone created a playing card version of the opening theme song for the popular anime "Mashle", and even though it's in English, it somehow sounds like Japanese.
マッシュルトランプ, trump mashle, トランプマッシュル, マッシュル トランプ, トランプ マッシュル
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The YATTA Song by fictional Japanese boy band Green Leaves (はっぱ隊, Happa-tai).
"Yatta!"
Single by Green Leaves
Released April 4, 2001
Genre J-pop, dance-pop, disco
Length 3:55
Label Pony Canyon
Songwriter(s) Hideki Fujisawa
"Yatta!" (やった "Hooray") is a 2001 parody song by the fictional Japanese boy band Green Leaves (はっぱ隊, Happa-tai). The song title, yatta, is the past tense of the Japanese verb yaru ("to do"), an exclamation meaning "It's done!", "I did it!", "Ready!" or "All right!" The song and video have been used as a web culture in-joke on many different websites.
The song uses a chord progression based on Pachelbel's Canon.
The song was first performed as a sketch on the Japanese sketch comedy show Adventures of a Laughing Dog (笑う犬の冒険, Warau Inu no Bōken), known as Silly Go Lucky in the United States, where Happa-tai is portrayed by some of Japan's most well-known comedians. The song was written by Hideki Fujisawa, otherwise known as Dance Man (dansu man;ダンス☆マン), who has also written songs for Morning Musume and the animated TV series Sgt. Frog.
On April 4, 2001, "Yatta!" was released under the Pony Canyon label in Japan. It surprisingly hit No. 6 in the charts and went triple-platinum in Japan within a number of weeks.[1] While the song was intended to be humorous, some viewers outside Japan assumed it to be earnest, perhaps due to the obvious work that went into the special effects in the video. The incomprehensibility of such an elaborate video enhanced its popularity among Western audiences who could not understand the Japanese lyrics.[citation needed]
The actors who performed as Happa-tai were brought to perform "Yatta!" in the US on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Host Jimmy Kimmel compared himself to Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles in their first American performance.
The video features the band's members singing and dancing exuberantly, most characteristically by flexing their biceps and hopping from one foot to the other, while wearing only underwear with a large green fig leaf on the front, as well as white sneakers when outdoors. Their synchronized dancing and personalized poses for the camera parody the boy band craze of the early 2000s, while the sketch satirizes many of the stereotypes of Japanese pop culture, mainly doramas, sports TV shows and the shōjo manga aesthetic. This includes a group shot on a street filled with floating sakura blossoms, with the band's members posing energetically towards the camera, and a brief romantic interlude during the song's bridge, where a member receives a smile from a woman passing by in the street and stares at her longingly before being comforted by his partners.
Members of Green Leaves:
Kiyotaka Nanbara (leader)
Jun Nagura
Taizo Harada
Ken Horiuchi
Noboru Ouchi
Jun Oki (replaced by Ryuhei Ueshima during the band's reunion on Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
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WATCH until end! JAPANESE WAIFU REMAINS TRUE...TO HER NATURE; a cautionary tale, The Sincerest Wish.
THE SINCEREST WISH
A 30-second Japanese TV CM that teaches the importance of making good wishes...
#Hatsumōde #初詣 #waifu #waifus #Japanesewife
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Max Makes a Sloppy Old-Fashioned (cocktail)
Max's favorite cocktail is the Old Fashioned.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon or so of brown sugar
3 dashes of Max's homemade bitters; review from Mark D back in June: "Hey man - I tried your bitters - I am blind now…."
1 teaspoon of soda water
2 ounces of Canadian Club whiskey
2 round ice cubes
The Old Fashioned is a cocktail served as an aperitif, made from sugar soaked in bitters (angostura type) to which whisky is added. It is traditionally served with a large ice cube in a tumbler-type whisky glass to which it has given its name: the old fashioned glass.
It is an official cocktail of the IBA, and one of the six basic drinks listed by David A. Embury in his book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.
History
The earliest definition of the word "cocktail" appears in 1806 in the weekly Balance and Columbian Repository: "A stimulating liquor, composed of any strong spirit, sugar, water and bitters. "
The "Whiskey Cocktail" was defined in 1862 by Jerry Thomas as consisting of two dashes of Boker's bitters, four dashes of gum syrup and the contents of a whisky wine glass; this mixture was then shaken with fine ice cubes and strained into a glass of red wine before being topped with a lemon peel.
In 2005, an article in the C-J placed the creation of Old Fashioned around 1880 in Louisville, KY in a private club. Its creator, Colonel James E. Pepper, is said to have later brought the recipe to the Waldorf-Astoria. In 2015, the mayor of Louisville recognized it as the city's official cocktail.
The Old Fashioned is the favorite drink of Don Draper's character from the series Mad Men. The appearance in this series coincided with the resurgence of consumer interest in this “forgotten” drink.
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#OldFashioned, #cocktail, #cocktail, #MadMen, #DonDraper, #Bitters, #Rye, #Whiskey, #Bourbon, #Bartender, #CanadianClub, #CC
#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす
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Barroom Ballet - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100310
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
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Steve Parker, husband of Shirley MacLaine, & Conman extraordinaire in Japan by Robert Whiting
A one-take reading from ROBERT WHITING'S JAPAN
"Steve Parker, husband of Hollywood star, and con man extraordinaire in Japan" by ROBERT WHITING MAR 30, 2022
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/steve-parker-husband-of-hollywood
TOKYO — Steve Parker was one of the more memorable individuals I interviewed in my long career in journalism in Japan. He was one of the first Tokyo denizens I met when I first arrived in the city in the early 60’s — introduced to him by a mutual acquaintance at the popular night club Club 88 — and he was, according to Corky Alexander, the “unofficial mayor” of the American community in the city at the time, a community which numbered some 7,000 American residents — not counting the U.S. military which in any event largely confined itself to the outskirts of the city.
Steve Parker was a theater and film producer who was married to the actress Shirley MacLaine. As he liked to tell people, he was born in Germany (in 1922), and as the son of a State Department official, he had grown up all over the world. He said he had been a paratrooper during World War II who spent much of his time in New Guinea, during which time he developed an interest in the theater, helping to organize shows, before being sent to Hiroshima immediately after Japan’s surrender.
After the war he moved to New York where he struggled as an actor, but met and married rising new star MacLaine, appearing in the hit musical, “The Pajama Game” on Broadway, the couple relocating to Los Angeles as her career took off. Tired of being known as Mr. Shirley MacLaine, he moved to Japan in 1956, and the two maintained a Trans Pacific — and famously open — relationship for nearly 30 years.
FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT:
https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/steve-parker-husband-of-hollywood
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TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
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Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
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#RobertWhitingsJapan #JapanBaseball #RobertWhiting #JapaneseHistory #ColdWarEra #JapaneseCulture #SubstackArticles #JapanReading #BaseballHistory #JapanColdWar #JapanLiterature #JapaneseBaseball #ColdWarJapan #RobertWhitingArticles #JapaneseSports #AsianHistory #TokyoJunkie #TokyoUnderworld #YouGottaHaveWa #冷戦 #Холоднаявойна #ロバート・ホワイティング #菊とバット― #東京アンダーワールド #東京アウトサイダーズ ― #和をもって日本となす
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Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
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Charlie Manuel, a star in Japan & an American original, fighting for his life in hospital
Charlie Manuel's Twitter is @CMBaseball41: https://twitter.com/CMBaseball41
Please also check Charlie Manuel's Twitter; subscribe & wish him a speedy recovery!
A one-take reading from ROBERT WHITING'S JAPAN:
Charlie Manuel, a star in Japan and an American original, fighting for his life in hospital
ROBERT WHITING
SEP 17, 2023
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/charlie-manuel-a-star-in-japan-and
TOKYO — I read with great concern of the failing health of Charlie Manuel, the former major league player and manager and star in Japan with the Yakult Swallows and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. Manuel made the news recently when he suffered a stroke while undergoing a medical procedure at a Florida hospital, with doctors saying “the next 24 hours were crucial” to his survival.
Manuel has suffered a whole host of medical problems during both his managerial career and subsequent retirement. He had survived a heart attack, quadruple bypass surgery, diverticulitis, diabetes and kidney cancer. He recently spent time in an intensive care unit due to complications from hernia surgery.
FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT:
URL https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/charlie-manuel-a-star-in-japan-and
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TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
_______________
50
views
'Crazy' Wright had a tough time adjusting to Japanese baseball. Robert Whiting's Japan, July 10 2023
A one-take reading from ROBERT WHITING'S JAPAN:
'Crazy' Wright had a tough time adjusting to Japanese baseball
ROBERT WHITING
JUL 10, 2023
https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/crazy-wright-had-a-tough-time-adjusting
TOKYO — A reader writes in regard to my recent column describing Clyde ‘Crazy’ Wright urinating into a reporter’s hat and asks, ‘Why did he do that?’ ”
Allow me to explain. Wright had a temper, yes. He was involved in fights on the field which veteran reporters covering the Giants found distasteful because the Yomiuri code of ethics deemed that the Giants players “always be gentlemen.”
So a reporter for the Hochi Shimbun, a top sports daily published by the Yomiuri Shimbun, wrote an article saying that the Giants should get rid of Wright because he was an embarrassment to the team.
FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT:
https://robertwhiting.substack.com/p/crazy-wright-had-a-tough-time-adjusting
===================================
TOKYO JUNKIE https://tokyojunkie.com/
===================================
Robert (Bob) Whiting is a best-selling, critically-acclaimed author who has written extensively on Japan, Japanese-American relations, and sports. His book You Gotta Have Wa was a Pulitzer Prize candidate and has recently been included in the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) top fifty baseball books of the last fifty years"
https://sabr.org/50at50/books
His latest book is Tokyo Junkie, https://amzn.to/3MdUyr9 a memoir focused on his life in Japan that combines Japanese post-war history and Japanese-American relations with his own experiences. You can read the foreword here, and excerpts here:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/sites/default/files/2021-04/04-April-2021-Number1Shimbun-v14.pdf
This site - https://tokyojunkie.com/archive/ - is a work-in-progress archive of Bob’s work.
You can also subscribe to his Substack and podcast, Robert Whiting’s Japan, - https://substack.com/@robertwhiting - which provide regular analysis of Japanese sports, politics, and business.
More on Bob’s books here:
https://tokyojunkie.com/english-language-books/
23
views