(Best of) Robert Whiting Part 2: "Tokyo Junkie" Baseball Stories and more

Part 2 of my interview with author Robert Whiting about his recent best selling memoir "Tokyo Junkie" 60 years of bright lights, back alleys, and baseball. In this episode, Bob tells great stories about colorful foreign players and well-known Japanese baseball stars. Part 2, we talk mostly about the baseball stories from his memoir, but also get into the important story of how writing his first book "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" completely changed his life. Together with episode #1 this is another important and rare opportunity to hear the history and evolution of Tokyo, from one Olympics in 1964 to the the current Tokyo 2020 games as lived and experienced by a true story teller, Robert Whiting. Other topics we discuss:

• The real reason Nomo went to the US to play for the Dodgers
• NY Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui's adult video collection story
• Being interviewed by  Larry King
• Reminiscing the time spent with Sadaharu Oh
• The Yomiuri Giants 10 Commandments for foreign ball players
• How the export of Japanese players to the Major League has changed Japanese baseball 
• Why there are fewer gaijin cultural transgressions these days
• The backstory behind a keepsake he received from a fan . . .  and former US President
• Why gaijin "used" to get an expanded strike zone
• Bob's favorite untranslatable Japanese word

Robert's Books (Tokyo Junkie): https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Whiting/
Robert Whiting: https://tokyojunkie.com/

More Now and Zen Japan episodes: https://www.nowandzen.jp/

Grow your website traffic = Zo Digital: https://www.zodigital.jp/
Japan Adventures via Camper Van = Dream Drive: https://www.dreamdrive.life

• Use the code word "ZEN" to receive discounts