Japan has just defeated the United States 9-4 in the second semi-final of the World Baseball Classic to set up yet another clash against their Asian arch-rivals South Korea. The Americans had won four in a row against Japan, including the bronze medal game at the Beijing Olympics. Japan starter Matsuzaka Daisuke was less than dominant but remains unbeaten at the WBC, where he was named MVP in 2006. Japan and Korea will face each other for the fifth time in this tournament, where they have a 2-2 record. Last Friday’s matchup pulled in a huge audience rating that peaked at over 48% in the Kanto region. It helped that Friday was a national holiday and that Japan managed to beat the Koreans again to set up today’s semi-final game against the U.S. Despite Friday’s loss, the Koreans already had one of the other spots in the semis, where they easily defeated Venezuela on Saturday. (photo: AP photo)
• Yesterday’s Tokyo Marathon was a good day for some of the 35,000 runners, but not so for others. 65-year-old Kusuda Akinori set a new Guinness World Record in the event, though not by actually winning it. His amazing feat was to have completed 52 marathons on consecutive days. His record-breaking run began on January 30 when he finished a 42.195-kilometer run in his local park. Friends and fellow joggers helped him keep track of his ongoing feat over the course of nearly two months.
Meanwhile the event also featured many celebrity runners, of whom comedian Matsumura Kunihiro (41) probably had the worst day. The overweight impersonator suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest after the 10km mark and was resuscitated by paramedics, who took him to hospital. He is said not to be in a life-threatening condition. Matsumura, a popular figure on the variety show circuit, was taking part in the race for a show on the local-access Tokyo MX TV. A company staffer was running alongside him as he ran in his third marathon attempt – he dropped out at the 35km mark last year as he went over the time limit. Among those who did finish the race were newscaster Miyane Seiji (45). But he didn’t manage to beat his target time of four and a half hours, so he now has to keep a promise and shave his head. In a matchup of politicians, Miyazaki governor Higashikokubaru Hideo (51) finished ahead of Diet member Suzuki Muneo (61).