About Us

Wayne Graczyk, a New Jersey native, came to Japan in 1969 with the U.S Air Force...and stayed.

A graduate of Tokyo’s highly-regarded Sophia University, Wayne was the sports editor for the widely-read Tokyo Weekender newspaper for 27 years, and is currently a popular baseball columnist with The Japan Times, the country's leading English-language daily newspaper.

Wayne also covers Japan for Baseball America, Major League Baseball and other sports news carriers.  For years he was a television play-by-play broadcaster for the Tokyo Giants, continuing to cover the ballclub now as a reporter for Nippon Television. 

Since 1976 he has edited and published the Japan Baseball Travel Handbook and Media Guide, a staple for media, scouts, and traveling fans.

He is a member of the Tokyo Sportswriters Club and the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan.


Bob Bavasi is a principal with Bavasi Sports Partners.

Bob and his wife, Margaret, were owners and operators of the Everett AquaSox, an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, and founders of the Marysville Gold Sox, a summer college team, and the Horizon Air Summer Series, a summer-long competition among select summer college teams.

As former Chair of the Board of both the Washington State Community Colleges and the Washington State Tourism and Economic Development Board, his involvement in education, tourism, and baseball has taken him to Japan for many years.  

Born out of his interest in Japan is JapanBall.com and its related Japan Baseball Tours for fans and baseball personnel.  

Bob is a certified Japan Travel Specialist, a certification earned from the Japan National Tourism Organization, a department of the Japanese Government.