ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
September 7, 2015
Hitmaker David Foster says Asia is
looking to dominate world music
FIRST CAREER NO-HITTER. Seattle Mariners starting pitcher
Hisashi Iwakuma follows through on a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles
in the ninth inning of his no-hitter baseball game on August 12, 2015, in
Seattle. The Mariners beat the Orioles 3-0. Iwakuma became the second
Asia-born pitcher since Hideo Nomo to throw a no-hitter in Major League
Baseball. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Three major firsts
for Asian athletes
(Walks & Hits per Innings
Pitched)
—
1.09
to
Darvish’s 1.20 — a huge
margin in this important
statistic. When it comes to
the
runs
given
up,
measured by ERA (Earned
Run Average), Iwakuma
also has the edge, 3.07 to
3.27. Although many are
blinded
by
Darvish’s
dazzling strike-out num-
bers, Iwakuma more than
holds his edge against his
Japanese counterpart.
And Darvish has yet to
throw a no-hitter here in
America, yet another way
that Iwakuma has proved
to be far more valuable.
Oakland
is
surely
regretting its inability to
land this major Asian
talent. Fortunately for
them, it looks like the flood
of Asian sports talent
shows no sign of slowing
anytime soon.
Continued from page 9
with Seattle as a free agent
and quickly rose from the
bullpen to the starting
rotation. Although his
countryman Yu Darvish
arrived the same season
and has received much
more publicity, Iwakuma
has been the better pitcher.
In the three seasons that
both have pitched in Major
League Baseball, Iwakuma
has won 38 games while
Darvish has won 39 — but
he’s had six more starts
than Iwakuma. Darvish
has loads of strikeouts,
fanning more than eleven
batters per nine innings,
versus about eight for
Iwakuma. But Iwakuma
has much better control,
walking half as many
batters as Darvish per nine
innings.
Those numbers explain
Iwakuma’s edge in WHIP
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) —
Music hitmaker David Foster says
he’s always on the lookout for fresh
talent, and Asia, with its huge
population, seems to have a lot of it.
Foster was recently in Manila for a
concert with Natalie Cole, Boyz II
Men, Ruben Studdard, Filipino
singer Charice Pempengco, and new
Filipino talent Mark Mabasa.
Foster told The Associated Press in
an interview that Filipinos have an
edge because they grow up on
karaoke and American music, and
from there formulate their own
sound.
The record producer and composer
of hit songs said Asians are figuring
out how to dominate the world with
their music, with K-pop in South
Korea well on its way to doing so.
Foster has mentored Charice, who
broke into the global music industry
through popularity on YouTube.
He has also promised “Asia’s Got
Talent” season one finalist Gerphil
Flores that the world will know her.
He compared her opera-style singing
to Sarah Brightman and Josh
Groban.
SEEKING STARS. Musician David Foster, front center, poses with singers, clockwise from
bottom left, Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard, Mark Mabasa, and Charice Pempengco, following a
news conference for an August concert in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, the Philippines.
(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
He hopes to see more singers whom
“It’s not that I’m particularly
looking for stars in Asia. I’m just he can help break into the music
always looking for stars and I spend industry during the second season of
so much time in Asia. I know they are Singapore-based “Asia’s Got Talent,”
where he is a judge.
out there,” he said.
Press group urges Philippines to stop attacks on journalists
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — The Committee to
Protect Journalists has urged Philippine President
Benigno Aquino III to act to stop attacks against the press
in the country after three journalists were killed.
Shawn Crispin, the group’s Southeast Asia
representative, said in a statement that the killings show
“how the lack of progress in ending impunity has
emboldened those bent on silencing the press in the
Philippines.”
Over the past several weeks, unidentified gunmen
killed radio broadcasters Cosme Maestrado and Teodoro
Escanilla and columnist and publisher Gregorio
Ybanez.
The Philippine media watchdog Center for Media
Freedom and Responsibility says if all three murders
are determined to be work-related, the number of
journalists killed in the country since 1986 would rise to
150.
1
2 8
3 5
1 8
2 5
2 6
9 3
5
4
6 3
5 6
4 7
7 8
9 4
6 1
5
Difficulty
MEDIUM
level: Medium
#12835
# 11
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last week’s
puzzle
Puzzle #26642 (Easy)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
3
6
7
2
5
1
9
8
4
5
4
8
7
6
9
2
3
1
2
1
9
4
8
3
6
5
7
7
5
1
3
9
2
8
4
6
9
2
4
8
7
6
3
1
5
6
8
3
1
4
5
7
9
2
8
9
2
6
1
4
5
7
3
1
7
6
5
3
8
4
2
9
4
3
5
9
2
7
1
6
8
Russell Peters
Friday, September 11, 2015, 8:00pm
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Tickets On Sale Now:
Portland’5 Box Office, All TicketsWest Outlets, Portland5.com, charge by phone: 1-800-273-1530