Latest news with #Masuda
The Mainichi
28-05-2025
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Baseball: Masuda, Yamasaki lead Giants past Carp
KANAZAWA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Riku Masuda drove in two runs with a homer and a double to back a solid outing by Iori Yamasaki as the Yomiuri Giants beat the Hiroshima Carp 4-1 on Wednesday. Solo home runs by Masuda and Trey Cabbage turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 Yomiuri lead in the bottom of the first inning. Masuda also made it 3-1 with an RBI double in a two-run seventh at Ishikawa Prefectural Stadium. Yamasaki (6-1) held the Carp to one run in 6-1/3 innings, striking out seven. Raidel Martinez picked up his 19th save. Daichi Osera (2-3) took the loss. Among Wednesday's other games, Ukyo Shuto hit a walk-off double to give the SoftBank Hawks a 2-1 win over the Pacific League-leading Nippon Ham Fighters. The Seibu Lions blanked the Rakuten Eagles 6-0.
08-05-2025
- Sport
2 Ballplayers Referred to Prosecutors over Online Gambling
News from Japan Society May 8, 2025 14:04 (JST) Tokyo, May 8 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police have sent papers to prosecutors suspecting that two players of the Yomiuri Giants professional baseball team illegally gambled at online casinos, investigative sources said Thursday. The two--Louis Okoye, 27, and Daiki Masuda, 31--have admitted the allegations, the sources said. Okoye and Masuda are suspected of using their smartphones to access foreign online casino sites in July 2022 and May 2023, and between October and November 2024, respectively, to gamble. The two used Wonder Casino and Konibet casino sites to play such games as blackjack and baccarat. Okoye is believed to have bet about 7 million yen and lost 4.5 million yen, while Masuda apparently wagered about 3 million yen and lost 2.3 million yen. Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department had interviewed the two players after the Yomiuri Giants sought advice from the department. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Tokyo Reported
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Tokyo Reported
First female Fukui police chief says 'gender no significance in carrying out duties'
FUKUI (TR) – On April 25, Mikiko Masuda was appointed as the first female chief of the Fukui Prefectural Police, reports Fuji News Network (Apr. 28). On Monday, the 47-year-old appeared at a press conference. Regarding her status as the first woman to assume the post of chief of police for the prefecture, she said, 'The gender of the chief has no special significance in carrying out his/her duties.' She went on to say, 'I will do my best to perform my duties to ensure the safety of the people of Fukui Prefecture, so I ask for your continued support.' During the question-and-answer session, she said that she would tackle a number of key issues, including nuclear power plant security and the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea. Mikiko Masuda (X) Nuclear power Regarding security of nuclear power plants, Masuda, a veteran of the National Police Agency, said she has experience dealing with unforeseen circumstances. 'With regard to nuclear power plant security, we will first gather accurate information, and then thoroughly implement security with dedicated units, and through that, ensure perfect security,' she said. 'I recognize that the abduction issue is an extremely serious issue in terms of the lives and physical safety of the prefecture's residents and the nation's citizens.' North Korean abductions When asked about the cases of missing Japanese nationals where abduction by North Korean agents cannot be ruled out, Masuda said, 'I would like the investigation to be thoroughly carried out in cooperation with the National Police Agency Commissioner General while fully accepting the complicated feelings of the victims and working to resolve the cases as soon as possible.' Regarding other key issues facing Fukui, she said she would work to implement measures based on the 'Safe and Secure Fukui Program' put in place by her predecessor, Jun Maruyama. 'On top of that, I would like to see the police force respond firmly to changes in society,' she added. 'I want to always keep in mind when making decisions whether we are able to respond appropriately. Changes in social conditions directly affect security issues. I don't think the gender of the chief himself is particularly meaningful in fulfilling his duties.' Masuda is a working mother. 'I've heard that Fukui Prefecture has the highest female workforce in the country,' she said. 'I think the difficulties and challenges of raising children can be shared with staff members. Regardless of the gender of staff members, being able to carry out their duties responsibly leads to the safety of the prefecture's residents. So, I think it is very important to create a work environment where each staff member can work with enthusiasm.' Masuda, a native of Tokyo, is a graduate of the Faculty of Liberal Arts at the University of Tokyo. She previously served as counselor in the Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and head of the Second Security Division of the Security Operations Department of the Security Bureau of the National Police Agency.
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Space Invaders on your wrist: the glory years of Casio video game watches
Over the last couple of weeks I have been tidying our attic, and while the general aim has been to prevent its contents from collapsing through the ceiling, I have a side-mission. My most valued possession when I was twelve was a Casio GD-8 Car Race watch – a digital timepiece that included a built-in racing game on its tiny monochrome LCD display. Two big buttons on the front let you steer left and right to avoid incoming vehicles and your aim was to stay alive as long as possible. I lost count of the number of times it was confiscated by teachers at my school. I used to lend it to the hardest boys in the year, thereby guaranteeing me protection against bullies. As a socially inept nerd, this was invaluable to my survival. I'm pretty sure I still have the watch somewhere, and my determination to find it has been augmented by a recent discovery: these things are valuable now. Casio started making digital watches in the mid-1970s, using technology it had developed in the calculator market to compete on price, but as the decade drew to a close, the market became saturated and the company started to explore new ways to entice buyers. Speaking to Polygon in 2015, Yuichi Masuda, senior executive managing officer and Casio board member, explained, 'Casio went back to its original thinking when it first entered the watch market; that is, 'a watch is not a mere tool to tell the time.' We started talking about a multifunction [approach], time display plus other things, such as telephone number memory and music alarms.' At the time, Taito's arcade game Space Invaders was a phenomenon in Japan. And so in 1981 Casio launched the CA-90/CA-901, a chunky calculator watch that included a sort of space shoot-'em-up but with numbers rather than alien spaceships advancing down the screen. 'We wanted to create a new lifestyle of enjoying the game anywhere at any time,' said Masuda. But wasn't Casio also inspired by Nintendo's Game & Watch series? After all, this iconic range of handheld electronic games started in 1980 with the juggling and catching sim Ball, and its success led to a vast array of titles, including the famed two-screen Donkey Kong that inspired the Nintendo DS. Shinji Saito, general manager and chief producer at the product planning department of Casio's timepiece business unit, says not. 'In 1980, the year before Casio launched the CA-90, Casio launched the MG-880, a game calculator that allowed users to enjoy digital invaders. Nintendo's Game & Watch was also launched in 1980,' he says. 'In developing the CA-90, Casio utilised the development assets of its MG-880 game calculator, but the starting point for the idea was Casio's development philosophy of creating a new culture using light, thin, short and low-power technology. We were not inspired by Nintendo's Game & Watch.' Indeed, Casio was developing a wide array of innovative features at the time including databanks, thermometers and pulse checkers. 'Their entire watch range in the 80s was huge,' says watch enthusiast Andy Bagley. 'I have been collecting for years and even now I will still come across a model I haven't seen before; there were many hundreds. I only recently discovered Casio made a range of touch screen watches in the 80s – way ahead of their time!' Whatever the case, the CA-90 was such a success that it inspired a period of rampant creativity in the Casio R&D department. Between 1980 and 1985 the company produced dozens of different game watches – an incredible feat considering the limitations of LCD displays at the time, which couldn't produce computer graphics or animation and simply relied on matrices of pre-set shapes that would switch on and off to suggest movement. There were several different racing games, there were shoot-'em-ups such as Heli-Fighter and Zoomnzap, and there were very rudimentary platformers including Jungle Star, where you play a Tarzan character leaping out of the way of rampaging panthers, and Hungry Mouse, where you are the mouse leaping over incoming cats. Some were more eccentric. Aero Batics was a stunt flying game, while Hustle Monira had you helping a dinosaur catch falling acorns (as opposed to Egg Panic where you caught … falling eggs). There were even rudimentary football and golf sims. As with Nintendo's Game & Watch titles they were often merely visual variations on very simple game design concepts. But at the time, they felt like science fiction. Of course, Casio wasn't the only tech company producing game watches in the 1980s. The US firm Nelsonic managed to get a Nintendo license and made watches with games based on Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, while Seiko had its Alba range of game watches throughout the 1980s, including the catchily named Y822-4000, which featured a baseball sim. The most aesthetically wild were from veteran electronic toy firm Tiger, which spent the spent the early 90s crafting gigantically chunky LCD game watches based on film licenses and arcade games such as Double Dragon and Altered Beast. Eventually however, technology and tastes moved on. After the high profile launch of the Game Boy in 1989, Nintendo swiftly cornered the portable gaming market. The game watch era was all but over. Now, there is a thriving collectors' scene. 'They are incredibly sought after and very expensive,' says Bagley. 'A downside is that they were actually not that well made in comparison to say the all-stainless-steel Marlins, meaning there are not many survivors, hence rarity is an issue. In perfect condition the rarest, most collectible game watches will fetch many hundreds all the way up to £1,000.' For Bagley and other collectors, these watches are nostalgic treasures, recalling an era when kids were disrupting classes not with social media alerts, but hourly digital watch bleeps, and when one publication was absolutely unmissable: 'Anyone like me who liked Casios in the 80s will no doubt remember the Argos catalogue,' he says. 'It was my personal reference manual for the latest available models; I eagerly rushed to the watch section every time a new catalogue came out to check out the latest innovations.' The watch industry retains its interest in the classic video game scene. In 2022, Timex launched a limited edition range of Space Invaders watches featuring sounds from the game, and earlier this year Casio produced a similarly limited collection of gorgeous Pac-Man watches, sending old fans like myself scurrying to the pre-order section of its website. If you were a slightly nerdy kid in the 1980s these things were your smartphone, your Apple Watch, your grasp at playground cachet. That's why I want to find my Car Race watch; it's not really about the potential monetary value – it's the one thing that really connects me to my 12-year-old self. For all that's been lost along the way, we still have games in common.
Sydney Morning Herald
26-04-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
An engineer was so obsessed with chewy udon noodles, he created his own. Lucky us!
Kan Masuda quit his job to perfect the art of udon making, before bringing his signature recipe to Bentleigh. Say hello to Musashino Udon Kan. Previous SlideNext Slide Japanese$$$$ Texture is one of the most polarising qualities in food. One person's 'delightfully springy' is another's 'disgustingly tough'. 'Soft and pillowy' could be a compliment or a trashing. Musashino Udon's fat wheat noodles may draw high praise – 'wow, they're so chewy, I love them' – while the next table is utterly perplexed – 'Wow, they're so chewy, I am not a fan'. Guess which table I'm at? Yes, the loving one. I am ecumenical when it comes to noodles and will pray at any church. Threadlike or thick, cold or hot, wheat or rice, egg or vegan, fresh or dry: just make them good. 'Good' means they hold together, suit the dish, the context and, if it's not too much to ask, there's a story to go with them. On all these counts, Musashino Udon Kan serves very good noodles indeed. The humble shop opened in September in ever-improving Bentleigh. There are window benches to survey streetlife, shelves of Japanese books that bring a homely feeling, collage artworks, and tables with handmade bench seating. The main feature is a glassed booth towards the rear. If owner Kan Masuda isn't out the back adjusting his precious broth or frying snacks, he will be standing here mixing flour and water, folding and refolding dough to develop layers, and hand-cutting noodles with an enormous knife. All udon noodles are famously thick and chewy, fatter than ramen noodles, definitely more textured than soba. But these ones are mega, as thick as a pencil though rather more squiggly. They're based on a style popular in Musashino, a commuter city west of Tokyo, using wheat grown on a nearby plateau. Served cold to dip into soy and dashi-based broth, they are an activity as much as a food. Kan Masuda was a railway engineer who became obsessed with chewy noodles. He quit his job and learnt the craft at Shijo restaurant – an udon specialist in Saitama Prefecture, near Musashino – always with the idea of bringing the concept to Melbourne, a place he'd visited many times and felt was open to trying new things. I love the slurp and bounce: these noodles are fun to eat but they also taste wholesome and nutritious. Rather than ship flour from Japan, Masuda has developed his own special mix of Australian wheat flour that has the right strength and flex to get the texture just right. I love the slurp and bounce: these noodles are fun to eat but they also taste wholesome and nutritious. The dipping broths work as seasoning and sauce: they're ballasted with mushroom, pork or beef and there's a spiced, cold sesame soup too. Drinking the broth is optional – it's made quite salty to flavour the noodles but you can ask for extra liquid to dilute it at the end. If you aren't enamoured with the idea of exercising your jaw, there is a gentler option. Miso nikomi udon sees noodles served in a hot broth (pork is traditional, but there's also wagyu). They start chewy but soften as the minutes tick by. Purists might call it a beginner bowl, but I can definitely see this version helping me get through winter. Musashino Udon Kan is a micro-business, opened with passion but not much money. There's a friendly feeling but you aren't coming for the service; the care comes through in the food. As well as the exemplary udon and broth, the fried karaage chicken is an excellent, juicy version of the staple. The tempura is surprisingly great and extraordinary value. If you want a simple meal for around $10, a serve of very hot, very crisp battered pumpkin, eggplant and sweet potato could hit the spot. How lucky we are in Melbourne to be able to explore the glorious specificities of culture through food. If Restaurant A is less than pleasing to you, there are always Restaurants B through to Z. I will definitely be stopping at U for udon. Three more noodle specialists to try Eek Charm It sounds almost too good to be true but this tiny hole-in-the-wall tucked down a pedestrian-only laneway offers quick and simple Thai noodle box meals for under $15, including free help-yourself chicken broth. Try the soup-free version of hot-and-sour tom yam. Laneway, 306 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Ramen Shouyuya Sake Bar The sister restaurant to Misoya Sake Bar opened recently, a bit further north along Sydney Road. Sit at the counter for gleaming soy-sauce-based broths with sardine dashi and housemade noodles. There's also a vegetarian version plus a small range of snacks and rice dishes. 692 Sydney Road, Brunswick, D'Kenyang Cafe Some people come for roti canai, rendang or the different spins on nasi goreng, but you could come just for Malaysian noodles. There are comfort classics like fried instant Maggi or kuey teow (flat rice noodles) with chicken and vegetables. Drinks for the homesick include Milo with grass jelly.
