Yellow & Black Fever: Life, Love and Baseball in the Land of the Rising Sun

by James David McKnight

A naive American immerses himself in exotic Asian culture teaching English in a rough public school, passionately cheering for his favorite team in a historic baseball stadium, and in the bedroom - a real-life "Lost in Translation" story

Genres: Japan, Baseball

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 19, 2020

About the author

James McKnight is the author of "Yellow & Black Fever - Life, Love and Baseball in The Land of the Rising Sun," his first published work. He spent 12 years in Japan as an English teacher. Since the year 2000, he has been an avid fan of the Hanshin Tigers Professional Baseball Team.

He is the grand-nephew of Thomas Griffith, a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, writer and editor at TIME Magazine and former Editor-in-Chief of LIFE Magazine as well as the author of three books, "Waist High Culture," "How True" and "Harry & Teddy - The Turbulent Friendship of Press Lore Henry R. Luce and His Favorite Reporter, Theodore H. White."

McKnight is a graduate of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
In addition to his passion for baseball, he likes trying exotic foods foods from Asia, studying Japanese language, traveling around the world, playing tennis, baseball, basketball and golf.

Reviews

[Bryan Winchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

McKnight’s writing captures the idiosyncrasies of life abroad in the Land of the Rising Sun during a period of transition both in his life and in the life of the culture he made his home for over a decade. Throughout, he explores the challenges of living in a small town with very limited language skills, trying to find a woman to put up with him and making yearly meccas to Osaka to celebrate his lifelong love of baseball, or yakkyu, cheering for the Chicago Cubs of Japan, the Hanshin Tigers, with the passion of a drunken Renaissance poet. It’s a rip-roaring adventure but with McKnight as your guide, it’s one you’ll surely want to take!

[Benjamin Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An authentic window into the experience of being a gaijin English language teacher in Japan intertwined with a universal love of baseball and the satisfaction of sharing support for the Hanshin Tigers with new friends. A fun fast read.

[Layla AlHajeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing the authors comment in a Japan Facebook group, I was intrigued to read this book even though I’m not a huge sports fan. It was very interesting to read about the cultural differences James faced while living in Japan. I love Japan but I have only met a Japanese cabin crew while flying back to Dubai, and I haven’t met Japanese on their own soil but everyone was polite. This book is the type of book you’d want to read most definitely

[Trevor Raichura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and relatable, but would have benefited from an overhaul in consistency, accuracy, and stylistic choices. Not sure who the editor was, but this read like a first draft more than a finished product.

[Christopher Hood · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a full review see https://hoodcp.wordpress.com/2021/07/...