https://www.scmp.com/rss/8303/feed Tim Noonan has been crafting uniquely provocative columns for the SCMP and SMP for more than a decade. A native of Canada, he has over 20 years’ experience in Asia and has been a regular contributor to a number of prominent publications, including Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and The Independent. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Tim Noonan Tim Noonan By the summer of 2014, a lifetime of ugly golf swings had finally caught up with me. After day two of a three-day golf tournament in Thailand, I woke up with a debilitating pain, like someone had inserted a knife into my left shoulder and was sadistically twisting it. Even worse, I could no longer lift my left arm more than an inch or two from my hip. Forty-eight hours later, sitting in a top international hospital in Bangkok, my CAT scans were up on a screen. “Yup,” the doctor said impassively.... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/wellness/article/3304744/struggling-severe-or-chronic-pain-novel-therapy-may-be-answer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/wellness/article/3304744/struggling-severe-or-chronic-pain-novel-therapy-may-be-answer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Apr 2025 01:00:11 +0000 Festive passion is not the first thing that comes to mind when talking about Major League Baseball (MLB). It’s a ponderous game, filled with interminable gaps in action that seem alien to a youthful culture weaned on constant stimuli. MLB is acutely aware of this and has made drastic changes this year to pick up the pace, most notably a strict pitch clock and the ending of defensive shifts that have kept scoring down. But none of those changes arrived in time to instil the type of passion that... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3214425/world-baseball-classic-shohei-ohtani-gives-his-sport-moment-it-desperately-needed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3214425/world-baseball-classic-shohei-ohtani-gives-his-sport-moment-it-desperately-needed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Mar 2023 09:30:09 +0000 Some folks were just not buying the hastily arranged, localised and downsized version of this Hong Kong Sevens that was being held in November for the first time in forever. What’s the point, they shrugged. It looks nothing like the event I loved in days of yore. Maybe I’ll come back next April in the regular slot. But for now, no thanks. Frankly, you can’t blame them for that sentiment. An event like this has become so indelibly etched in the sporting consciousness, not only around here but... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198784/hong-kong-sevens-proved-jewel-citys-sporting-crown-still-has-life-now-it-needs-vision-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198784/hong-kong-sevens-proved-jewel-citys-sporting-crown-still-has-life-now-it-needs-vision-future?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Nov 2022 01:30:09 +0000 You could spend all weekend chasing ghosts around this joint, if that’s your thing. I mean, it would have certainly been easy to be a slave to nostalgia at Hong Kong Stadium because it was, after all, Saturday at the Sevens. This was still the single most festive day on the calendar in this town, and it’s been that way for well over forty years. In fact, the old barn has never looked better; a strikingly scenic and bucolic gem nestled in a massive pile of clover and all of it framed by the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198584/no-need-nostalgia-hong-kong-sevens-where-its-onward-and-upward?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198584/no-need-nostalgia-hong-kong-sevens-where-its-onward-and-upward?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:19 +0000 In its purest form, the Hong Kong Sevens is only a rugby tournament. They keep score and winning teams advance until one is crowned champion. But the truth is that the Hong Kong Sevens is a rugby tournament in the same way that the Super Bowl is a football game. They are multi-integrated events that transcend their sport, and in the case of Hong Kong often transcend the city itself. It is the single most important annual sporting event held here simply because of the impact and recognition it... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198323/hong-kong-needs-earn-worlds-trust-and-return-sevens-great-place-start?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/hk-sevens/article/3198323/hong-kong-needs-earn-worlds-trust-and-return-sevens-great-place-start?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Nov 2022 04:00:12 +0000 They don’t really get it in Japan. They can’t seem to understand how their prodigal son, who just finished arguably the greatest season in the history of major league baseball, may no longer be the most valuable player in his respective league. In fact, when all the MVP votes are counted in the American League there is a pretty good chance that the pride of Oshu City, Los Angeles Angels unicorn Shohei Ohtani, will be a distant second to New York Yankees slugging behemoth Aaron Judge. For all his... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3195125/shohei-ohtani-has-had-greatest-baseball-season-all-time-aaron?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3195125/shohei-ohtani-has-had-greatest-baseball-season-all-time-aaron?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Oct 2022 03:46:35 +0000 It’s not entirely unprecedented. Two teenagers have played in the finals of the women’s US Open previously. Back in 1999, Serena Williams, two weeks shy of her 18th birthday, beat 19-year-old Martina Hingis. Twenty two years later Britain’s 18-year-old Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leyla Fernandez, six days after turning 19, would reprise the teen showdown. But that is where the similarities end. By the time Raducanu won an unlikely and hard fought 6-4, 6-3 championship victory over Fernandez,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/3148442/us-open-teenaged-phenoms-emma-raducanu-and-leyla-fernandez-turn-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/tennis/article/3148442/us-open-teenaged-phenoms-emma-raducanu-and-leyla-fernandez-turn-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Sep 2021 02:26:00 +0000 The most rarefied and mythologised venue in all of sports, invites to anywhere around Augusta National Golf Club are at a premium. But even more exclusive is an invite to Butler Cabin where the Masters champion is officially crowned and green jackets fitted. Next to the champion sits the lowest-scoring amateur, a youthful, wide-eyed prop in golf’s most maudlin reality show. Ten years ago the golf world said hello to Hideki Matsuyama when the 19-year-old Japanese prodigy captured the amateur... https://www.scmp.com/sport/golf/article/3129355/hideki-matsuyama-japans-olympic-hype-machine-will-need-tread-carefully?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/golf/article/3129355/hideki-matsuyama-japans-olympic-hype-machine-will-need-tread-carefully?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Apr 2021 08:44:16 +0000 No one has to tell Daryl Morey that timing is everything in sports. In October of 2019 the esteemed general manager of the Houston Rockets posted perhaps the most ill-timed tweet in the short history of Twitter on the eve of his team’s NBA exhibition series in Tokyo: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” With violence escalating between the police and protesters in the streets of Hong Kong, the impact of those seven words would end up costing the NBA billions of dollars in revenue in China.... https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3105838/houston-rockets-daryl-morey-finally-out-picture-china-and-nba-can?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3105838/houston-rockets-daryl-morey-finally-out-picture-china-and-nba-can?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Oct 2020 12:00:20 +0000 History is unanimous about little. However, one thing historians do agree on is that 49BC was the year Julius Caesar and his troops crossed the Rubicon river and in the process precipitated the Roman Civil War. “Alea iacta est” (The die is cast), Caesar declared, and so it was that the term “crossing the Rubicon” became an indispensable metaphor for passing the point of no return. Fast forward a couple thousand years and today anyone with electricity will also agree that 2020 is the year that... https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3095941/nba-china-choppy-waters-lie-wait-pious-league-it-crosses-rubicon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3095941/nba-china-choppy-waters-lie-wait-pious-league-it-crosses-rubicon?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Aug 2020 11:00:21 +0000 Technically, the NBA is full of young men playing a game. But it is the kid in the man, the boundless athletic energy of youth, that makes him a multimillionaire living a life of unfathomable temptation and entitlement. It’s also why the kid in the man no longer responds to the word “no”. However, stick him in a bubble of self-discipline and accountability, where a single wrong move could imperil not only a billion-dollar industry but the health and welfare of everyone around him, and it quickly... https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3094761/how-rumblings-raging-hormones-could-completely-burst-nbas-bubble?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3094761/how-rumblings-raging-hormones-could-completely-burst-nbas-bubble?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jul 2020 00:00:15 +0000 We all know about the litany of miscues and compromised agendas at the highest levels of governance that have greatly contributed to the world being on the brink of disaster. It’s an indisputable truth and here is one more: yesterday is just that, it’s done. The blame game is not moving us forward. We need a vision, we need some hope and no country has a better chance, and more of a need, than Japan. Japanese and International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials finally came to their senses this... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3077382/tokyo-2020-japan-and-ioc-can-spin-olympics-negative-positive-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3077382/tokyo-2020-japan-and-ioc-can-spin-olympics-negative-positive-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2020 04:05:06 +0000 As recently as two days ago, the Tokyo 2020 communications team was sending media members detailed information on the route of the upcoming Olympic torch relay. However, with staggering causalities mounting daily in Europe from Covid-19, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was forced to acknowledge on Monday that the Games may indeed need to be postponed. “If it is difficult to hold the Games in such a way, we have to decide to postpone them, giving top priority to (the health of the) athletes,”... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3076408/japan-holding-its-breath-tokyo-2020-chiefs-await-iocs-inevitable?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3076408/japan-holding-its-breath-tokyo-2020-chiefs-await-iocs-inevitable?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2020 05:45:15 +0000 Some days three or four messages arrive in the inbox, other days one or two. But every day, without fail, there is an email with a corresponding press release from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic press office and it has been that way for nearly two years. Naturally, the sheer volume of messages invites the mundane. Over the last month alone, there were a couple of hundred words detailing how “for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, hydrogen will be used to power both the Olympic and... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3052831/tokyo-2020-only-apocalypse-or-government-ineptitude-can-prevent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3052831/tokyo-2020-only-apocalypse-or-government-ineptitude-can-prevent?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Feb 2020 01:00:09 +0000 The shocking and tragic deaths of basketball icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash had a profound impact globally. However, the depth of the tragedy is almost eclipsed by the irony. Less than 16 hours earlier in Philadelphia, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James – playing for the very same team that Bryant led to five NBA titles and in the same city where he rose to stardom as a high school wunderkind – passed Kobe to take over the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3047741/kobe-bryants-death-chinas-loss-kindred-spirit-mourned-second-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3047741/kobe-bryants-death-chinas-loss-kindred-spirit-mourned-second-home?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:13:20 +0000 The man once dubbed the “David Beckham of Asia” does not look back. Hidetoshi Nakata has more than moved on from a storied football career that ended abruptly 13 years ago at the tender age of 29. Stylish and charismatic, as a 21-year-old creative midfielder he led Japan to their first World Cup appearance in 1998 and in the process became equal parts sporting hero and pop culture phenomenon. Nakata soon found himself playing in Italy’s Serie A with Perugia, and as the only Japanese... https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3039515/how-hidetoshi-nakata-went-football-and-fashion-icon-japanese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3039515/how-hidetoshi-nakata-went-football-and-fashion-icon-japanese?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:26:42 +0000 A tournament in crisis, a golf club in crisis, a city in crisis. Three strikes and you’re usually out and so it was that the European Tour announced it has postponed next week’s Hong Kong Open golf tournament at Fanling. Amid everything else that is happening in Hong Kong, the news solicited little more than a knowing shrug. In reality, it would have been next to impossible to hold the event given the ominous infrastructure and security issues. But among the things the 61st edition of the Hong... https://www.scmp.com/sport/golf/article/3039034/history-counts-nothing-already-besieged-hong-kong-golf-club-now-forced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/golf/article/3039034/history-counts-nothing-already-besieged-hong-kong-golf-club-now-forced?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Nov 2019 02:46:23 +0000 It’s a hard old game. That’s been a familiar refrain from coaches to players and commentators to fans over the past six weeks of the Rugby World Cup. Few can debate that either, and this hard old game is not one where you will age particularly well. The players who were on the pitch for the final on Saturday when South Africa beat England 32-12 will carry the physical residue of this match for the rest of their life. FULL-TIME in #RWCFinal @EnglandRugby 12 @Springboks 32 SOUTH AFRICA ARE... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3036055/japan-2019-officially-kicked-touch-now-its-france-2023-rugby-world-cup?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3036055/japan-2019-officially-kicked-touch-now-its-france-2023-rugby-world-cup?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Nov 2019 01:00:09 +0000 It only seems like it’s been raining for 40 days and 40 nights. It might even be longer, but who’s counting. When the Rugby World Cup opened six weeks ago, the oppressive humidity gave way to hazardous rain and floods. Now in the home stretch with the final only a day away, the appearance of sunlight has become cause for celebration and nowhere is that festive spirit more prominent than in Ueno Park. Located in the north of Tokyo, Ueno Park was opened in 1873 and is a massive, sprawling green... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3035748/exploring-tokyos-iconic-ueno-park-during-rugby-world-cup?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3035748/exploring-tokyos-iconic-ueno-park-during-rugby-world-cup?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Nov 2019 01:00:19 +0000 One week after England coach Eddie Jones told the world no one was giving his team a chance to beat New Zealand in the World Cup semi-finals, he was back at it again. Only this time, he had the air of the hunted, as opposed to the hunter. “The players understand they haven’t done anything yet,” he said in Tokyo, two days after his side administered a thorough and clinical beating on the vaunted All Blacks 19-7. England are set to play South Africa on Saturday in Yokohama in their first final... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3035177/our-players-understand-they-havent-done-anything-yet-england-coach?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3035177/our-players-understand-they-havent-done-anything-yet-england-coach?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2019 08:06:25 +0000 “No one thinks we can win,” England coach Eddie Jones said earlier this week in Tokyo about their Rugby World Cup semi-final clash with the all-conquering All Blacks. Well, clearly he did and so did his players because in what has to be their best performance since winning the finals in 2003, England totally outclassed and outplayed New Zealand in a convincing 19-7 victory. An early exit from the 2015 Rugby World Cup, on home soil no less, meant four years of heartache for England rugby fans.... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034735/rugby-world-cup-all-hail-england-fans-japan-left-awe-after-huge-win?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034735/rugby-world-cup-all-hail-england-fans-japan-left-awe-after-huge-win?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Oct 2019 04:28:53 +0000 Nothing signifies the end of an Olympic Games like the marathon. Held on the final Sunday of the Games, this marquee event is always the last one on the athletic calendar. Starting at the main stadium and ending up back there 42 kilometres later, the race through the streets offers global viewers a look back on the host city of the past 17 days one last time. In Japan, a country with a deep and passionate running culture, the marathon is spoken of in reverential tones. More than 320,000 runners... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3034691/tokyo-2020-olympics-moves-marathon-sapporo-ioc-issues-royal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3034691/tokyo-2020-olympics-moves-marathon-sapporo-ioc-issues-royal?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Oct 2019 07:43:23 +0000 England, well they invented rugby while New Zealand currently own it. South Africa are two-time champions who many claim was liberated by rugby. And, because you need four teams to fill out two Rugby World Cup semi-finals, there is also Wales. The biggest weekend on the rugby calendar is here in Yokohama with two huge semi-finals, although one most certainly seems huger than the other. England playing the All Blacks on Saturday has seemingly sucked all the air out of the room. But not for the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034580/rugby-world-cup-wales-looking-historic-victory-cement-their-place-among?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034580/rugby-world-cup-wales-looking-historic-victory-cement-their-place-among?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2019 08:48:15 +0000 Despite facing the biggest match in his four-year career as coach of England, Eddie Jones seems like he doesn’t have a worry in the world. “Raise your hand if you think we can win,” Jones said on Tuesday in Tokyo about meeting New Zealand this weekend in the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup. “See, there you go. No one thinks we can win. There’s 120 million Japanese people out there whose second team are the All Blacks. So there’s no pressure on us, we’re just going to have a great week, enjoy... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034035/no-one-thinks-we-can-win-england-rugby-coach-eddie-jones-said-his-squad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3034035/no-one-thinks-we-can-win-england-rugby-coach-eddie-jones-said-his-squad?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2019 08:21:56 +0000 Close your eyes for a moment, let the romantic in you wander and you can almost hear the strains of Ennio Morricone’s haunting theme to the film classic Cinema Paradiso. But this is far from a war-torn village in Sicily, this is a suburb of Tokyo and while they are streaming the Rugby World Cup instead of black and white classics, the effect is surprisingly similar. Here in Chofu a large wall of a local building doubles as a theatre and much like Cinema Paradiso, the glow from the make shift... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033867/rugby-world-cup-japan-says-sayonara-brave-blossoms-rugby-paradiso-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033867/rugby-world-cup-japan-says-sayonara-brave-blossoms-rugby-paradiso-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2019 07:52:03 +0000 It’s not that difficult to like Nick Nurse. All you have to do is meet him, and that’s before you even know his backstory. Nurse has been an NBA head coach for all of one year now and already has a championship to show for it. Twelve months ago he was a largely unknown coaching nomad who took over the Toronto Raptors when Dwayne Casey was relieved of his duties two days after being named coach of the year. But as the team arrived in Tokyo last week to play two exhibition games against the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3033689/how-nick-nurses-big-picture-coaching-vision-was-30-years-making?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3033689/how-nick-nurses-big-picture-coaching-vision-was-30-years-making?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Oct 2019 06:26:52 +0000 Any talk of mega-metropolitans begins and ends with Tokyo. There are 38 million souls crammed into a single metro area full of hundreds upon hundreds of bustling and unique micro neighbourhoods. It’s that kind of diversity which defines the greatness of any city and few cities rival the greatness of Tokyo. But while rugby’s quadrennial World Cup came to Japan in search of new frontiers, it’s far from the only show in town in the country’s biggest city. But, again, there are 38 million people in... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033559/rugby-world-cup-looking-rugby-buzz-multifaceted-and-sprawling-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033559/rugby-world-cup-looking-rugby-buzz-multifaceted-and-sprawling-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2019 08:02:25 +0000 The champs are getting restless and who can blame them. Two-time Rugby World Cup defending champion New Zealand All Blacks have not officially played a match in 11 days since destroying Namibia 71-9. Combined with the cancellation of their final pool match against Italy last Saturday because of Typhoon Hagibis, as well as their dismantling of Canada 63-0 before that, it has been almost a month since they played a competitive match when they beat South Africa 23-13. After kicking off one month... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033399/rugby-world-cup-all-blacks-fighting-stay-sharp-business-end-kicks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3033399/rugby-world-cup-all-blacks-fighting-stay-sharp-business-end-kicks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 09:24:49 +0000 Halloween is a very big deal in Japan, with ghosts and goblins and glowing jack of lanterns festooned all over Tokyo these days. Looking to get into the festive spirit is the guy standing right in front of me with a head the size of the Great Pumpkin. We’re shoehorned into the Rugby World Cup Fanzone in the middle of Tokyo to watch the last pool match between Japan and Scotland and while the view could not be any worse, the stakes could not be any higher. The winner will go on to the final... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3032836/rugby-world-cup-typhoon-be-damned-fans-root-home-team-japan-digs-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3032836/rugby-world-cup-typhoon-be-damned-fans-root-home-team-japan-digs-out?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Oct 2019 08:44:09 +0000 Make a list. Write down all the multinationals doing billions of dollars of business in the mainland that have openly supported freedom of expression in Hong Kong and openly defied China. You won’t need much paper because right now the only name on that list is the NBA. When NBA commissioner Adam Silver finally addressed the media this week in Tokyo before the tip-off of the Japan NBA Games between the Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets, there was a gravitas and rare weariness to him. Nothing... https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3032538/nba-china-crisis-why-adam-silver-had-little-choice-back-rockets-gm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3032538/nba-china-crisis-why-adam-silver-had-little-choice-back-rockets-gm?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Oct 2019 00:00:11 +0000 NBA commissioner Adam Silver has stood firm in defending what he called the league’s values and the personal freedom of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to support protesters in Hong Kong, despite facing vehement attacks from Chinese fans and partners. “The long-held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression, and Daryl Morey enjoyed that right as one of our employees,” said an emotional Silver as he met the media before the Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets exhibition... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3032068/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-we-will-protect-our-employees?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3032068/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-we-will-protect-our-employees?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2019 15:04:35 +0000 The greatness of sport is irrefutable. No public platform does more to foster inclusiveness and social justice than sports and if you need proof just ask Japanese rugby star Kotaro Matsushima. Of course, he doesn’t have time to answer seemingly inane questions like this right now because he is too busy helping Japan achieve unprecedented sporting glory at the Rugby World Cup. It’s also not in his nature to get into the sociological impact of his burgeoning public profile because he is a humble,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3031694/kotaro-matsushima-and-his-electric-play-leading-japan-forward?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3031694/kotaro-matsushima-and-his-electric-play-leading-japan-forward?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Oct 2019 10:04:24 +0000 Ginza is crisp, fashionable, classy and elitist. Of course it’s affluent, but it does not outwardly reek of wealth or ostentatiousness like a Knightsbridge or a Beverly Hills. Because it’s the style capital of Japan, Ginza is inherently refined. Rugby is not so refined, at least not in the wardrobe department. Rugby people dress like they like to drink beer. There is no such thing as a clothes that clash bash for rugby people, everything clashes. But that is OK because rugby is where the rubber... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3031612/rugby-world-cup-grit-meets-glamour-even-uber-stylish-ginza-pitches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3031612/rugby-world-cup-grit-meets-glamour-even-uber-stylish-ginza-pitches?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Oct 2019 10:24:34 +0000 “Wow, just wow, I never ever saw this one coming,” said a jubilant Satoshi Takehana, as Japan’s Brave Blossoms stunned world number two Ireland in an epic World Cup match in Shizuoka. One of the rare Japanese rugby writers based in London, Takehana was there four years ago when Japan beat powerful South Africa in a World Cup match that made a national hero out of coach Eddie Jones and is now referred to simply as the Brighton miracle. “Of course that one was a shock, but we could see early in... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030818/rugby-world-cup-2019-everyone-japanese-right-now-after-huge-win-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030818/rugby-world-cup-2019-everyone-japanese-right-now-after-huge-win-over?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Sep 2019 04:00:47 +0000 Cutaway mode is the ultimate act of respect in Japan saved only for the most venerated, like baseball god Ichiro Suzuki. Regardless of the situation, in between every single pitch the cameras would cutaway to Ichiro because the Japanese love to suffocate the celebrated. Well, congratulations England coach Eddie Jones because you are now in full cutaway mode in Japan. Here’s Eddie looking happy, here’s Eddie looking serious. There’s Eddie more serious and there’s Eddie happier. Everywhere,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3030768/eddie-jones-star-burns-brightest-rugby-world-cup-man-who-put?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3030768/eddie-jones-star-burns-brightest-rugby-world-cup-man-who-put?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2019 06:40:41 +0000 Say this about the Canadians, they can walk the plank with the best of them. And this is what you wanted, eh Hong Kong? A lovely early fall afternoon in scenic Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium playing Italy in the Rugby World Cup. This all could have been possible had you emerged victorious from the repechage qualifying tournament last November. But unfortunately you were manhandled by Canada so they earned the right to get manhandled in Japan. Well, apparently, this is what the coach of Canada... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030667/rugby-world-cup-2019-tier-two-minnows-reaping-tier-one-earnings-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030667/rugby-world-cup-2019-tier-two-minnows-reaping-tier-one-earnings-world?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2019 08:32:53 +0000 The food is ravenously delicious, the weather pure bliss, the greenery rolls on and on as the scenery enraptures while the thousands of therapeutic hot springs offer pure tonic for the forlorn soul and, for the next month or so, there is also world class rugby. The only things missing in Kyushu are the maddening crowds, and maddening costs. So get thee to Japan’s southernmost major island, a little more than a three-hour flight from Hong Kong, because there has never been a better time to visit,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030469/rugby-world-cup-2019-exploring-japans-fukuoku-kyushu-island?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3030469/rugby-world-cup-2019-exploring-japans-fukuoku-kyushu-island?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Sep 2019 07:14:38 +0000 You can play nice here; it doesn’t take much. Let the genuine hospitality embrace you whole while the ridiculously delicious food and frothy, orgasmic draught beer smother your palette in joy. All of it, pure bliss, produces the most edifying of experiences which can only be described in one word: Japan. I am beyond grateful to this country, which I have had an unshakeable spiritual affinity for since my first arrival almost 30 years ago. But no matter how many clouds you walk on, how many... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3029993/rugby-world-cup-2019-yokohama-stadiums-big-screen-test-best-seen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3029993/rugby-world-cup-2019-yokohama-stadiums-big-screen-test-best-seen?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2019 10:07:30 +0000 Ten years ago the rugby world finally opened the window and let a little air into the room by awarding a tier two country Japan the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Ten years is also significantly more than the normal time allotted to plan an event of this magnitude. However, the thinking was that the two parties could use all that time to get to know each other. But Japan and rugby needed only 10 minutes, not 10 years, to look at each other and say, “Dammit, you look awfully familiar.” Of all the... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3029859/rugby-world-cup-2019-its-show-time-japan-and-world-rugby-they-get-set?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3029859/rugby-world-cup-2019-its-show-time-japan-and-world-rugby-they-get-set?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Sep 2019 08:35:58 +0000 It’s a good day for facts and not the alternative variety. Cold, hard, indisputable facts is what we’re serving up today and foremost among them is that rugby is a real game. Raw and primal but steeped in honour and integrity, rugby is a blissful misnomer in an age of shameless self-promotion. None of the players are dating a Kardashian, pulling in US$30 million per year or have a couple of billion Instagram followers. We desperately need rugby and its core values now, which is why pure joy is... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3029791/rugby-world-cup-2019-about-growing-game-which-means-you-need?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3029791/rugby-world-cup-2019-about-growing-game-which-means-you-need?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Sep 2019 04:23:00 +0000 Nothing says art like New York City. Chelsea is the epicentre, with contemporary art in every form, while Midtown has history and the Upper East Side boasts stately and stylish galleries. But it’s downtown in the Lower East Side where you find edgy and gritty. “Our focus over the years has been as a socially conscious gallery in New York that specialises in showcasing the work of documentary photojournalists,” said Felicia Anastasia, founder and creative director at Anastasia Photo Gallery in... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3027303/rugby-world-cup-warriors-field-and-action-heroes-it-all-black-greatness?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3027303/rugby-world-cup-warriors-field-and-action-heroes-it-all-black-greatness?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Sep 2019 04:01:12 +0000 Typhoon Faxai claimed its first Rugby World Cup casualty on Monday, forcing the Australia squad to delay their arrival. Japan’s reputation for suffering natural disasters was enhanced as the powerful typhoon made landfall in the eastern Tokyo suburb of Chiba early on Monday morning, setting all-time wind records in excess of 200km/h while severe rain squalls knocked out power in 450,000 households. The typhoon has caused widespread travel disruption in the Tokyo metropolitan area with hundreds... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3026279/rugby-world-cup-historic-typhoon-faxai-already-wreaking-havoc-parts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3026279/rugby-world-cup-historic-typhoon-faxai-already-wreaking-havoc-parts?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Sep 2019 02:43:18 +0000 There are no tales told by successful kamikaze pilots. Their first mission was always their last as they dive bombed their craft into allied vessels in the Pacific theatre during the waning days of the Second World War. “The only reason I am still alive is that I wasn’t a very good pilot,” Shigero “Shiggy” Konno would repeatedly tell one and all up until his passing in 2007. According to Konno, his suicide mission kept getting put back until it was finally set to take off in early September,... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3026220/rugby-world-cup-how-failed-kamikaze-pilot-became-soul-game-japan-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/article/3026220/rugby-world-cup-how-failed-kamikaze-pilot-became-soul-game-japan-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Sep 2019 06:08:42 +0000 “Rugby was traditionally the sport of the white imperialists and, at least in Hong Kong, Tokkie found things proceeding as normal,” writes John D’Eathe in his recently released book, Creating the Hong Kong Sevens – Tokkie Smith and The Colour Of Rugby. As one of the top management people at Hong Kong Land back in the ’60s, D’Eathe was a strategically embedded and integral part of the remarkable influence rugby held in the colonial corridors of power. “The rugby elite in Hong Kong during that era... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3025310/how-enlightened-rogue-helped-create-hong-kong-sevens-and-bring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3025310/how-enlightened-rogue-helped-create-hong-kong-sevens-and-bring?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Sep 2019 04:18:08 +0000 On behalf of the 60 million residents of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, I would like to extend the heartiest of welcomes to Team USA as they prepare to defend their championship, and hopefully their freedom, this coming week at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. And a very special welcome to China as well for two men who have redefined the genre of leadership, head coach Gregg Popovich and assistant Steve Kerr. A graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Coach Pop has won five... https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3024023/why-invasion-socially-conscious-nba-coaches-and-stars-china-may?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/basketball/article/3024023/why-invasion-socially-conscious-nba-coaches-and-stars-china-may?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2019 03:55:29 +0000 It was the perfect antidote for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Three years out from the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, a myriad headaches were already mounting in Brazil. Craving stability, IOC delegates gathered at their 2013 congress to choose between Tokyo and Istanbul for the 2020 host. “Tokyo can be trusted to be the safe pair of hands and much more,” Japanese IOC member Tsunekazu Takeda told his fellow delegates, who agreed by awarding the Games to the country’s... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3019759/2020-olympics-one-year-countdown-tokyo-already-bursting-seams-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3019759/2020-olympics-one-year-countdown-tokyo-already-bursting-seams-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jul 2019 00:00:12 +0000 Utilitarian is not necessarily a negative word. Something that is utilitarian is designed to be serviceable and practical. It is not, however, dynamic or unique which is why all the standard clichés in the world will not change the fact that the design for the new Kai Tak Sports Park is not only underwhelming, it is truly utilitarian. “We have created a new benchmark in the world for sports, entertainment and community facilities that are connected in an urban oasis,” said Paul Henry, the senior... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3012451/bangkok-about-show-hong-kong-what-real-benchmark-sports-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3012451/bangkok-about-show-hong-kong-what-real-benchmark-sports-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2019 06:47:08 +0000 It was a data leak of potentially epic proportions. When Cathay Pacific announced in October that its internal systems had been hacked, close to 10 million passengers of Hong Kong’s flagship air carrier faced the possibility that their personal data, including everything from passport details to credit card numbers, had been compromised. Shivers were felt throughout the region. Still, as alarming and personally intrusive as this must have been, the truth about modern hacking is that things could... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3002922/if-you-thought-cathay-pacific-data-leak-was-bad-just-wait-till?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3002922/if-you-thought-cathay-pacific-data-leak-was-bad-just-wait-till?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2019 02:00:10 +0000 It’s been an eventful week for sports here in Japan. Obviously, the opening of the Major League Baseball season at the Tokyo Dome culminating in the retirement of national icon and baseball god Ichiro Suzuki has rightly commanded the lion’s share of attention. But another story of great significance arose this week that threatens to shake the country’s sport establishment to the core when Tsunekazu Takeda, the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, announced he will resign amid allegations... https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3002978/ichiro-suzuki-retiring-stage-finally-clear-rugby-and-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/rugby/fifteens/article/3002978/ichiro-suzuki-retiring-stage-finally-clear-rugby-and-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Mar 2019 05:45:28 +0000 Arguably the most accomplished and influential Asian athlete ever, Ichiro Suzuki has officially called it quits. The forty-five-year-old hitting machine came with the Seattle Mariners to play against the Oakland A’s in the two-game Major League Baseball season opening series at the Tokyo Dome. But from the moment this series was announced a little under a year ago, it has been nothing short of surreal. At the time, Ichiro was floundering in his return to the Mariners after seven years away... https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3002894/ichiro-suzuki-retirement-asias-greatest-professional-athlete-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3002894/ichiro-suzuki-retirement-asias-greatest-professional-athlete-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Mar 2019 09:34:03 +0000