They have officially been unveiled in the camp opening ceremony held yesterday. The navy looks much closer to Nishitetsu black than the old Seibu sky blue. I like the simple design, though the minimalist simplicity of the home uniform (right) with just the L looks almost like a high school team uniform 😛 The away uniform (left) is pretty much straight up Nishitetsu throwbacks from last season. And here’s yetanother team going to an off white (or light gray) colour for their road uniform (Giants ditched their ugly black tops and used their interleague off white unis as road uniforms for most of last season, not sure what’s happening with them this season). NPB’s gonna look a lot like high school baseball in 2009. What’s up with this trend?
Illustration of the 2009 Saitama Seibu Lions away uniform has been leaked. It’s base colour is gray, spells out “LIONS” across the chest in the Nishitetsu Lios era font (or in the 2008 Nishitetsu throwback uni style), and the font is the “legend blue” navy colour that is supposed to be a mixture of Nishitetsu era black and Seibu era light blue. The uniform will be unveiled on 28 January at the training camp opening press conference, and will be worn first in the season opener against the Chiba Lotte Marines at Marine Stadium on 3 April.
has adopted a new mascot starting today… and it’s unfailingly cute (but a little weird in a superhero sort of way, and I guess that makes him unique or something). Introducing.. Tokyo Dorompa! 😛
Is it a squirrel, a raccoon, or some mystical creature?
Team Japan was announced on 15 January for the final round of qualifying for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Japan is in a very tough group against Austria, Slovenia, and hosts Germany. The games will take place 5-8 February in Hannover. The winner of the group will qualify for the Vancouver Olympics. Japan is essentially going into this round of qualifying with the exact same team that won the first round of qualifying in Poland last November. The team will hold camp in Italy from 27 Jan – 2 Feb before heading over to Hannover. You can see each player’s individual stats in the 2008-09 Asia League.
GK Haruna (35) Oji Eagles GK Ishikawa (27) Nippon Paper Cranes GK Kikuchi (33) Seibu Prince Rabbits DF J. Tonosaki (25) Nippon Paper Cranes DF Miyauchi (36) Seibu Prince Rabbits DF Osawa (30) Nippon Paper Cranes DF R. Kawai (24) Seibu Prince Rabbits DF Minami (23) Oji Eagles DF Yamashita (21) Oji Eagles DF Keller (33) Oji Eagles FW Domeki (25) Oji Eagles FW Kon (30) Seibu Prince Rabbits FW Kamino (29) Seibu Prince Rabbits FW Ogawa (26) Oji Eagles FW G. Tanaka (25) Seibu Prince Rabbits FW Obara (27) Seibu Prince Rabbits FW Iimura (27) Nippon Paper Cranes FW T. Suzuki (33) Seibu Prince Rabbits FW Ta. Saito (27) Oji Eagles FW Mitani (35) Nippon Paper Cranes FW Te. Saito (25) Oji Eagles FW Nishiwaki (26) Nippon Paper Cranes FW S. Sato (25) Seibu Prince Rabbits
IIHF World Rankings:
Germany (10), Slovenia (15), Austria (16), Japan (22)
Japan, Hockey, Baseball, etc. 