Shohei Ohtani, 30, of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers hit three consecutive home runs and stole two bases in a game against the Miami Marlins on September 19. This makes it 51 home runs and 51 stolen bases in 2024, and he became the first player in MLB history to achieve “50 home runs and 50 stolen bases” in a season. Ohtani hit his 47th home run, which was his career best, on September 11. His previous best for stolen bases was 26, and he has far exceeded that.

Note: In the Japanese text, the kanji character uwa in uwamawatte imasu is the same kanji, with different pronunciations, noted in the September 9 and 20 installments of this series. The kanji indicates “up” or “above.”

Japanese original

(Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun)

The easy Japanese news is taken from the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun, a newspaper for 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren. This is perfect material for anyone studying Japanese who has learned hiragana and katakana. We encourage beginners to read the article in English followed by Japanese, or vice versa, to test their comprehension.

A fresh set will be published every Monday to Friday at 4 p.m., Japan time. Click/tap here for past installments.

Intermediate learners who do not need English assistance can directly access the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun site here . Furigana (hiragana) is added to all kanji in the text.