Sunday, August 19, 2007

Most Popular Sports In Japan

By Alex Vidal

"No one traveling on a business trip would be missed if he failed to arrive." THORSTEIN VEBLEN

The much-awaited world championship fight to be held in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo will involve Filipino Eriberto Gejon who will tackle world Boxing Association (WBA) minimum weight champion Yutaka Niida on Sept. 1, 2007
I will not be in the ringside when Gejon tries to avenge his split decision setback to the same Japanese warrior two years ago in Yokohama but I am confident that Gejon will pocket the country’s third world boxing title now that Florentino Condes and Nonito Donaire have given the Philippines its first two world crowns this year.
Boxing is extremely popular in Japan today with almost all Japanese boxers dominating the most of the weight categories in the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) of the latest tally.
Aside from boxing and baseball, the most popular sports in Japan is still the traditional Japanes sport Sumo.
Traditionally, Sumo is considered Japan’s national sport and is one of its most popular sports spectated within Japan. Martial arts such as judo, karate and kendo are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country. After the Meiji Restoration, many western sports were introduced in Japan and began to spread through the education system.
The professional baseball league in Japan was established in 1936. Today, baseball is the most popular spectator sport in the country. One of the most famous Japanese baseball players is Ichiro Suzuki, who, having won Japan’s Most Valuable Player award in 1994, 1995 and 1996, now plays in North American major league baseball.
Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992, association football (soccer) has also gained a wide following. Japan was the venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2004 and co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea .
Golf is popular in Japan, as is auto racing, the Super GT sports car series and Formula Nippon formula racing.
US$ 130B For Research
Japan is a leading nation in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery and medical research. Nearly 700,000 researchers share a US$130 billion research and development budget, the third largest in the world.
Some of Japan’s more important technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, machinery, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and me-tals. Japan leads the world in robotics, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world’s industrial robots used for manufacturing. It also produces QRIO, ASIMO and Aibo. Japan is also home to six of the world’s 15 largest automobile manufacturers and seven of the world’s 20 largest semiconductor sales leaders.
Japan has significant plans in space exploration, including building a moonbase by 2030. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducts space and planetary research, aviation research, and development of rockets and satellites. It also build the Japanese Experiment Module, which is slated to be launched and added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2007 and 2008. /MP

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