Japanese rugby player Fukuoka Kenki says he will follow through with his decision to become a medical doctor. In return, he has given up on playing for the Japanese Rugby Sevens squad in next year's Tokyo Olympic Games.
In last year's Rugby World Cup, the 27-year-old speedster stood out for scoring four tries, that contributed to Japan's historic run to the quarterfinals.
About 80 percent of the facilities needed for next year's postponed Tokyo Olympics have been lined up, the president of the organizing committee said Friday.
Two of the largest venues have not yet been secured, however.
An NHK survey shows that about two-thirds of corporate sponsors of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics have not decided whether to extend their contracts with the Organizing Committee beyond December, following the Games' postponement to 2021.
NHK conducted a survey of 78 Olympic and Paralympic sponsor companies in May, and 57 of them responded.
NHK has learned that companies sponsoring Japan's para-sports have reduced or suggested they would reduce financial support to organizations participating in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Many of the organizations participating in the Paralympics do not have sufficient financial resources. More than half of them count on sponsor money or government subsidies for over 80 percent of funds they need to train athletes and promote para-sports.
Nissan has teased the next Rogue Sport already, but today marks the small crossover's spy shot debut. Named the Qashqai in other markets, the Rogue Sport is one of Nissan's small, budget crossovers. It stands above the tiny Kicks, but is smaller and cheaper than the regular Rogue.
In case you're wondering why some of the photos have some green, blurry leaf marks on them, it's because our spy photographer literally scaled a tree to capture the shots on a test track that was certainly walled off with tons of security. Sure, it's a lot of work to capture a car as boring as the Nissan Rogue Sport, but we appreciate the effort nonetheless.
NHK has learned that the International Olympic Committee plans to finalize in September a new plan for the 2020 Tokyo Games. The coronavirus pandemic forced organizers to push back the Games by one year.
The Tokyo Olympics are now scheduled to open in July next year. It is estimated that the postponement will cost several billion dollars.
For the 2021 model year, the Subaru Crosstrek is getting some mechanical and aesthetic updates, along with a new Sport trim (pictured above).
The biggest difference you'll find for 2021 is the addition of a new engine to the lineup. While the base and Premium trims will continue to use the 152-horsepower, naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder carried over from 2020, the Sport and Limited trims will employ a new-to-Crosstrek 2.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine. Borrowed from the Forester, and also found in the Outback, this naturally aspirated 2.5-liter provides 182 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque. That power is put to the wheels via a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and Subaru's torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. The base and Premium trims, with the holdover motor, still come with either a six-speed manual or optional CVT.
The Toyota Corolla hatchback has sponged up all the headlines lately thanks to the imminent Corolla Sport GR and "Special Edition." Product planners haven't forgotten about the sedan, according to a piece in Car and Driver, although the goodies on the way are suited for the more conservative sedan buyer. The Apex Sport Package is a cosmetic suite for the mid-grade SE and top-grade XSE trims that should become available "within the next few months." We don't much information on it at the moment, leaving the specific bodywork changes in the category of known unknowns. What is clear is that the 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 169 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque won't be touched. Opting for the SE trim opens up the chance to take control with the six-speed manual, but the CVT-equipped SE and XSE are also on the menu.
A set of summer performance tires is how a Corolla fitted with the Apex Sport Package will get more out of its standard mojo. At the moment, the SE and XSE trims come with 18-inch wheels on Michelin or Yokohama all-season tires. Certain Corolla hatchbacks come with asymmetrical Dunlop high-performance all-season tires; a set of extra-sticky summer rubber on the sedan would outdo those.
Subaru has released the first teaser image of the 2021 Crosstrek, ahead of its debut on June 9th.
The WRC-inspired Toyota GR Yaris is one of the hot hatches nabbing lots of attention this year. The Japanese automaker has promised a version for the U.S., albeit on a different platform, and apparently with a different naming scheme. A report in Japan's Best Car magazine, via The Drive, says the potent Corolla rumored headed our way will be called the Corolla Sport GRMN, and it could debut for certain markets as soon as this fall. By any name, the hatch just got a lot more exciting if Best Car is right in saying the Corolla Sport GRMN will send some of its power to the rear axle, installing the "latest 4WD system that uses an electronically controlled coupling."
That sounds like a simpler setup to apportion torque than the 4WD system on the GR Yaris with its locking front and rear differentials. Depending on the tune and how much weight the machinery adds, having all tires contribute to forward progress could give Toyota's entry a sizable advantage over competition like the front-wheel drive Hyundai Veloster N and Volkswagen GTI. And ticking another vital box on the enthusiast's checklist, Toyota's six-speed manual transmission will be on tap for power transfer duty.
A report in the Japanese business daily Nikkei, picked up by Automotive News, said Mitsubishi anticipates using a Nissan engine in the next-generation Outlander headed our way later this year. If the report comes true, the engine swap would be a first for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance partners outside of Japanese kei cars. Mitsubishi engineers will have an easier time slotting in a Nissan engine as the next-gen Outlander gives up its GS platform — an architecture Mitsubishi co-developed with Daimler Chrysler almost 20 years ago — to move to a modified version of the CMF platform that supports the Nissan Rogue and Qashqai, our Rogue Sport.
Last December, Auto Express spoke to Ponz Pandikuthira, Nissan's European vice president of product planning. The exec said Nissan had two hybrid powertrains under consideration for the next-generation Qashqai, the first being Nissan's serial hybrid ePower system that's fared well in Japan where overall speeds are low, but that might not be suited to Europe's higher average speeds. As for a PHEV, Pandikuthira said, "We're not pursuing a big plug-in hybrid strategy. On some car lines we'll try it out, but the business case for plug-in hybrids is not very good."
The Japan Sumo Association is set to cancel its May tournament as the government is preparing to extend the nationwide state of emergency for the coronavirus outbreak until the end of the month.
Multiple sources said that it is difficult for the association to go ahead with the summer grand tournament while the state of emergency is in effect.
The Japan Sumo Association says it will reconsider its schedule for the summer grand tournament if the government extends the state of emergency.
The nationwide measure is currently due to expire on Wednesday, May 6.
Japan's annual summer inter-high school athletic meet has been cancelled due to the spread of coronavirus.
This is the first cancelation of the national sports event since it began in 1963.