The UK’s Daily Mail has reported that Kim Yu-Na is in line for a US$1 million bonus from sponsors for smashing the world record in the ladies figure skating at Vancouver last week. Kim was already the world record holder for scores for both the free programme and overall scores, both of which were [...]

The Japanese Ladies’ Team Pursuit Speed Skating team have won a silver medal for Japan on the second last day of competition. The team of Hozumi Masako, Kodaira Nao, and Tabata Maki (and reserve, 15 year old Takagi Miho) defeated Korea in the quarter final by 4.56 seconds, before meeting Poland in the semi final. [...]

If you live in Japan and watched even a moment of television over the last week, you have heard of Asada Mao. The nation’s media have been frantic in their hopes that surely, after two weeks of competition, somehow the Japanese team would win their first gold medal. And none in the team were better [...]

Takahashi Daisuke became the first Japanese man to win an Olympic figure skating medal when he claimed the bronze medal behind American Lysacek and Russian Plushenko.

Attention before the final performances centered on who would, and who wouldn’t try the quad jump, which few skaters are able to accomplish with precision and consistency. Lysacek contraversially [...]

The media explosion over the ‘Kokubo scandal’ over the last week was one of the biggest feeding frenzies over nothing that I’ve seen in the Japanese media in a while – and they are very good at feeding frenzies over trivial things.

I first heard about Olympic snowboarder Kokubo Kazuhiro’s ‘fashion choices’ and ‘attitude’ from [...]

Japan has claimed it’s first medals of the Vancouver games, claiming the silver and bronze medals in the Men’s 500m Speed Skating. Nagashima Keiichiro (27) won the silver medal, and Kato Joji (25) took the bronze, with the two Japanese skaters just 0.16 and 0.19 seconds respectively behind gold medalist Mo Tae-Bum of Korea. Korea’s [...]

One of the sweethearts of the Japanese media in the current Japanese Olympic squad is 4 time Olympian Uemura Aiko. She has been at or near the top of her sport of mogul for more than a decade, having achieved top ten finishes in the last 3 Olympics in Nagano, Salt Lake and Torino.

What has [...]

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver got underway yesterday, with 94 Japanese athletes to compete in 14 different sports (all except ice hockey).

The Japanese team have limited expectations for medals, having won just 32 medals in Winter Olympic history, ten of which were claimed during their hosting of the Nagano Olympics in 1998.

Having been born [...]

…. Rio de Janeiro.

Chicago was first to be eliminated, a shock to some (not least the Obamas who will have to not only go home empty handed – but with the slap of being eliminated first…), and then Tokyo was taken out in the second round of voting, leaving Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to [...]

Prime Minister Hatoyama is headed to Copenhagen today, to join the leaders of the other three nations in the running to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Tokyo is vying for the chance to host the games along with Chicago, Rio and Madrid. Tokyo last hosted the games in 1964, and [...]