
Beyond Baseball: teamLab Borderless
teamLab is an interdisciplinary group of artists formed in Tokyo in 2001. But the disciplines of group members are not traditional ones like painting, sculpting, or photography. Members are called “Ultra-technologists” because the troupe is composed of programmers, engineers, computer…
“La Mujer de Hierro” – My Experience Working for Kim Ng
Friday, November 13, 2020 was “the most noteworthy day for baseball since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947,” according to Dr. Richard Lapchick, Director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of…

Beyond Baseball: Yasukuni Shrine and Yushukan War Museum
The hundreds of Shinto shrines of Japan are revered for their tranquility and spirituality, but only one is a frequent spiritual haven for violent yakuza members and is internationally known for its controversial nature – the Yasukuni Shrine and accompanying…

A Baseball Love Letter
In May 2020, Alex Weaver founded a website and Instagram account called “Baseball Letters.” Alex’s intention was to show how “Baseball is personal, it’s poetry, it’s art, and it’s thinking.” He encouraged his audience to share their favorite baseball moments…

Thank You, Baseball
@thankyoubaseball (update: no longer active) is one of my favorite accounts in all of social media. Zan Rathore, the account’s Toronto-based creator, has the goal of uniting the baseball community by sharing all that makes him thankful for the game…

Beyond Baseball: The Robot Show
Update: It appears that the Robot Restaurant may have permanently closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will stay tuned to see if it re-opens. The world-famous Robot Show, which is held in the basement of the Robot Restaurant,…

Beyond Baseball: Bullet Trains
Japan’s high speed Shinkansen trains, popularly known as “bullet trains” ever since their initial design stages, can reach speeds of 200 MPH. But it is not just their speed that impresses. Despite traveling routes that cover vast swaths of the…
Beyond Baseball: Sumo Wrestling 101
Overview and History Despite the ever-visible popularity of baseball, sumo wrestling is the national sport of Japan. Baseball may have made its way to Japan shortly after the sport came into existence, in the second half of the 19th century,…