Top Sports Stories in Japan… (September 1)

A new month… a very busy one at that!  So three months down here, and the World Athletics Championships continue… Twenty/20 Cricket World Cup… The Rugby World Cup… busy, busy, busy!

Anyway – today’s top stories in sports in Japan:

• Teen phenom Ishikawa still a chance (JPGA)… [Daily Yomiuri]
• Eagles beat Lions (NPB)… [Daily Yomiuri]
• Smith takes early lead (WAC)… [Daily Yomiuri]
• Felix gets Women’s 200m gold (WAC)… [Mainichi Shimbun]
• Wariner wins (WAC)… [Mainichi Shimbun]
• Palmer not returning to BJ-League (Basketball)… [Japan Times]
• Dragons get past Carp (NPB)… [Japan Times]

More Japan loves Cute!

Japan’s obsession with all things ‘Kawaii’ has not lessened at all over the last few weeks, that’s for sure. ’90s Japanese adult-movie star Ai Iijima (now a mainstream celebrity) is in the news for having ‘found true love’… new ‘idols’ (cute celebrities) seem to spring up almost daily, and the sports-world is no different…

So just a quick update on one of Japan’s favorite idols at the moment, the 15 year old Ryo Ishikawa – nicknamed “hanikami oji” (bashful prince) who is in Nagoya to play in the Japan Amateur Championships, which started Tuesday. Normally a fairly quiet affair, the Aichi country club has had to triple the amount of security it normally employs for the event. A course official stated that normally they only have to do this for pro-events, and even then, only when a really famous golfer is playing.

Ishikawa is expected to have a following of perhaps 4,000 fans, but his aims are being kept realistic: “I want to aim at finishing first if I can get through the elimination rounds,” Ishikawa said.

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[source: Mainichi Shimbun]