tokyointerview.comInterviews & Commentary on sports in Japan and around the world

I talked with Ryan on the eve of the Red Sox visit to Japan.

listen here

I came upon this documentary from my colleague at www.smww.com about Bobby Valentine. A must see documentary. I talked with the director Andrew Jenks, who is just graduating from film school. He definitely has a great career ahead of him.

I believe the Red Wings will play the Penguins in the finals and Sid The Kid will win the Conne Smythe Throphy for MVP. The Beginning of the new Gretzky Oilers. The Penguins have a Mark Messier , Sidney Crosby and Malkin. They have a Gretzky, Sidney and Malkin. They have a Semenko in Laroques. They have a Mario Lemieux in Lemieux.

Any questions?

Watch the best of Mark Messier and Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Gretzky and Lemieux oh my god!

This is the time of year men who love hockey can do almost nothing around the home. They can go out to bars and scream with friends. If they are lucky their team is still in the hunt For Lord Stanley.

My Boston Bruins are gone but another Black and Yellow team is still in the hunt. The Penguins

My friend pictured above with the Maurice Richard hair doo wrote an interesting blog on hockey. I am standing in the middle sucking in my gut.

What do you do during the playoffs?

Scott’s Blog

Taro Kawakami comes from Chiba, Japan. He has a great love for the game of baseball. Growing up in San Francisco during Elementary School he was introduced to Baseball, “The American Way.” Enjoy the interview. LISTEN TO IT ON TOKYO INTERVIEW

HERE

I recently was in Par Golf Magazine in Japan. The article was about lifting ( bouncing the ball on your club).

Introducing the next Wayne Gretzky of Formula One

“When Wayne Gretzky was six he was playing against ten year olds. In the season when he was ten he scored 378 goals and 139 assists in eighty-five games. Wayne’s father, Walter turned the Gretzky backyard into a rink by leaving a water sprinkler running all winter; Walter taught Wayne and his brothers Keith, Brent, and Glenn to play hockey. In an unusually frank 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Gretzky related how Walter would build him up one minute then tear him down the next, reminding him that he could never have an ‘average’ game.”

I live in a small city of forty-thousand people in the middle of Japan. When I am not performing, I teach English, a few hours a week, to the kids of eager parents who wish their kids to get into a major university. After appearing on NHK TV, (one of the major TV stations in Japan) one of my students has become an over night phenomenon. We all know that an over night success takes years of dedication and training to happen.

Ukyo Sasahara started racing KART when he was six years old. In a short 4 years, he became the Japanese junior national M4 KART champion. (A huge step up from go-carts) The junior age group ranges from ten years old to fourteen years old. In his first year of eligibility he won the whole thing. He plans to enter the fourteen to eighteen year old range next year when he turns twelve.

On winning the national championship, Ukyo won a scholarship to the prestigious racing school in Parma Italy. He will be leaving next week for five days. When he gets back to Japan he has two days to prepare to defend his M4 KART national title.

Playing a big role in his success are his two very kind parents. Ukyo’s mechanic father, like Wayne Gretzky’s father, built a garage very near his home to help Ukyo’s dream of being a formula one racer become reality.

Where do I fit into this eleven year olds dreams? Ukyo has it all worked out for the next ten years of his life. After reading about blogs and pod-casts, I figured I could make this weeks assignment on how to promote him to the English world. I went over to his newly built garage and watched the family business in action. His mother answers the phone, counts the money and served me some Japanese tea. While his father greeted sponsors down below in the garage area. In the hour that I was there Snap On Racing and a local KART company dropped by. I was left with Ukyo, who navigated around on his wireless laptop showing me all the sights that he is affiliated with. He gets about 100 blog messages a day from fans and sponsors trying to get a piece of this little Wayne Gretzky.

But. . . Built inside his DNA is this committed desire to win and only win.

Please check out the site I set up for the 2017 Formula 1 champion. (on Friday)
Move over Ralph Shumacher.

I don’t know what happened but the Bruins just lost their mojo. Cam Neely, Bobby Orr, I pulled out all the guns yesterday inhope for a big upset. Golf season starts today for the B’s. At least they don’t ever have to worry about opening their season in Japan like the Red Sox or possibly the Celtics.

I have been a long suffering Bruins fans when facing the Canadians in the finals. During my youth I had the great opportunity of living near Beantown. From the age of four on I was a Bobby Orr Fan! When I was twenty four I hitch hiked down to Boston from My hometown of Montreal to see the Bruins play Montreal in the playoffs. Almost 20 years ago to the day Cam Neely single handedly beat the Canadians 6-3 . Cam recorded a hat trick and Boston Bruins Fans littered the ice with Hats. I was there!
What is your greatest memory in Hockey?

picture courtesy of NHL Cam Neely pounding Ulf Samuelson, The guy who basically ended Cam’s career.