By JOEL RIPPEL
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Courtesy Jack Gallagher Jack Gallagher (right) shakes hands with sumo champion Takonohana.

From an early age, Jack Gallagher knew he wanted to work in professional sports. He has achieved his goal, but he has taken a rather unique career path.

The San Jose, Calif., native graduated from the University of Southern California in 1983 with a degree in sports information, with an emphasis in public relations. After graduation, he worked for the Los Angeles Clippers from 1984-89 and for the London Monarchs of the World Football League in 1991-92.

Gallagher moved to Japan in late 1994 and in early 1995 began working as a sports reporter for The Daily Yomiuri (an English-language newspaper). In 1998, Gallagher joined The Japan Times — another English-language newspaper. In 2002, Gallagher became the newspaper's sports editor.

He is the APSE's first member from a Japanese newspaper, and he recently earned an honorable mention in column writing in the 40,000-100,000 circulation category.

Q: The bigger legend, Sadaharu Oh or Babe Ruth?

A: It has to be the Bambino. He came to Japan on a tour with Lou Gehrig and several other major leaguers in 1934, which was a pivotal moment for baseball in Japan.

Q: Does your staff have Wa?

A: It's a prerequisite for the job.

Q: What's your favorite Robert Whiting book — The Chrysanthemum and The Bat, You Gotta Have Wa or The Meaning of Ichiro?

A: You Gotta Have Wa. I read it in 1992 and it ended up being one of the catalysts for my move to Japan. I wanted to learn more about the culture and thought the best way would be through sports. The book was both fascinating and intriguing.

Q: Which fans are more intense, British soccer, American NFL or Japanese baseball fans?

A: That's an easy one. It has to be the British soccer fan. In England, just about everybody has a team they support. The sport is deeply ingrained in the culture. In the U.S. or Japan, some people are ambivalent about sports. It's not like that with soccer in England.

Q: Who is the most popular gaijin?

A: A guy named Bob Sapp, who is a K-1 (sumo) fighter. He was a lineman at the University of Washington and in the NFL for a short time. He came here a few years ago and has done very well for himself. He is huge and very gregarious, which the Japanese like.

Q: With players like Ichiro, Matsui and others leaving Japan for the U.S., is baseball still the national sport?

A: Without a doubt. Soccer has made some inroads here after Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup, but baseball is still the clear No. 1.

Q: How do you cover sumo wrestling?

A: Sumo is actually a great sport. It is a lot like ice hockey, in that you can't fully appreciate it by just watching it on TV. Each wrestler has his own personality, which comes across when you are there in person. That is what you focus on. Everybody should have the chance to see sumo live at least once.

Q: Growing up in San Jose, did you envision an international career in sports media?

A: Actually, I did not. I wanted to be a GM in the NBA. When I was 13, the Golden State Warriors won the NBA title (1974-75) and I became very interested in basketball and later went on to work in the league.

Q: What was the biggest adjustment for you moving to Japan?

A: Learning to communicate in Japanese was the biggest challenge. I was fortunate in this respect, because my wife is Japanese, but the real test would come when I was on my own and had to communicate with others in person or on the phone.

There are three alphabets in Japanese and none of them are in Roman characters, which was a big obstacle. I was able to teach myself two of the three alphabets (hiragana and katakana) and some of the third (kanji).

My first few years here, I used to write up baseball stories in English in the office at night from the box scores in Japanese. That is the definition of challenging — especially on deadline.

Q: You've worked for two English-language dailies in Japan. Talk about the papers.

A: I have been with The Japan Times for nearly seven years. It is the leading English-language daily in Japan and has been in existence for over 100 years. We have a good readership and the best English news website in Japan. I often receive inquiries from all over the world about Japanese sports.

I spent nearly four years at The Daily Yomiuri, which is the main competitor of The Japan Times. They are the English version of the world's highest circulation newspaper — The Yomiuri Shimbun. The company also owns the Yomiuri Giants.

Q: The U.S. doesn't have a sports daily newspaper. But in Europe and Japan they have been successful. Why is that?

A: I think it has a lot to do with the culture. In Europe and Japan, many people commute to work by train. They might take one paper at home and pick up another at the station on the way to work.

In the States, most people go to work by car, so that opportunity to read a second gazette isn't there. I remember The National back in the early 1990s. It would be great if the U.S. did have its own sports daily. Japan has six of them.

Q: What sports do you cover? What is a normal workday for you?

A: Because of the size of our staff, we spend most of our time in the office editing and designing pages. We get out and write when we can. I write about many different sports — both inside and outside of Japan — in my column and run the desk.

We place a good deal of emphasis on North American sports, so with the time difference, the great majority of our work is done in the daytime, which leaves the evening open to attend an event or set up an interview.

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