Category CrossCurrents

by Masaki Watanabe

世代を超える＜おかげさま＞とフェアプレイの精神朝日軍最後の一人が語る

初対面のケイ上西氏、会って数分でその迫力に圧倒されしまった。長年の記者生活で大分スレてしまった当方だが、齢93歳の同氏はまるで悟りをひらいた禅僧のごとく、自己に対しても周囲に対してもいつも自然体、平常心で接している様だ。唯一の情熱の対象をひたすら追い続けて人生を生き抜いてきた人物の重みとでも言うか。

If former players of our legendary Asahi ballclub could have witnessed the impact Japanese players are having on Major League Baseball (MLB) today, I wonder what they would have said? As Major League Baseball and Nippon Pro Baseball (NPB) teams…

“You must listen to what your father says.” This is what many of us were told over and over again as we were growing up, trying to figure out what’s right and wrong in this increasingly complex global world of…

「お父さんの言うこと聞きなさい！」今やグローバル時代を謳歌し益々複雑化する世界だが、私たちの多くは、幼い頃から物事の良し悪しを模索しつつも、いつもそう叱られて育ってきた。

Just who among this small number would think of the Nazi swastika when they see the logo in question? I leave the answer to our Canadian readers’ common sense.

Unfenced school yards and sports grounds where a ball sailing over an outfielder’s head keeps rolling on. The rule about drivers having to stop the moment a pedestrian steps out on the road to cross, no matter where. Passengers who…

外野手の頭上を抜けたボールがどこまでも転がっていく柵のない校庭やスポーツグラウンド。どこでも歩行者が一歩でも車道に踏み出したらドライバーは直ちに停車して横断させるべしというルール。

What kind of a country is Ireland? Generations of people migrating to North America, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere since the Potato Famine of the 19th century have earned a place for themselves in societies across the English-speaking world ,…

アイルランドってどんな国なんだろう。19世紀の大飢饉以来北米、オ−ストラリアなどへの移民が数世代続き英語圏には必ず有力者を含むアイルランド系がアングロサクソン系と共に幅をきかしている（例：カナダ首相マルローニー、米大統領ケネディ）。

Born in the Meiji era, he had a great “sense of the borderless,” passion for cars and a curious mind – all extraordinary for Japanese people of the time, or even of today. This I can attest to with certitude, as it turns out he was probably my father’s best friend since the time they went to the university together.