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''Robert Whiting (born October 24, 1942) is a best-selling author and journalist who has written several successful books on contemporary Japanese culture - which include topics such as baseball and American gangsters operating in Japan. He was born in New Jersey, grew up in Eureka, California〔(People: Robert Whiting ), Japan Times, Vivienne Kenrick, November 12, 2000 〕〔("More about Robert Whiting" ) japanesebaseball.com〕 and graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo. He has lived in Japan for a total of more than three decades since he first arrived there in 1962, while serving in the U.S. Air Force. He currently divides his time between homes in Tokyo and California. ==Background since relocating to Japan== Whiting first came to Japan with U.S. Air Force Intelligence in 1962. "I was going to Humboldt State University and was about to flunk out. I had all sorts of problems..." Whiting said in an interview with Gavin Blair in 2013, for the ''#1 Shimbun'' (the newspaper of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan). "I was going to get drafted, so I joined the Air Force."〔(Blair, Gavin and Whiting, Robert. "Robert Whiting," ) ''# 1 Shimbum'', Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, December, 2013〕 Whiting was assigned to work for the National Security Agency in the U-2 program in Fuchu, Tokyo. He was offered a job working for the NSA when his tour with the Air Force was about to end, but he chose instead to study at Tokyo's Sophia University, where he majored in Political Science. In order to supplement his income while studying on the GI Bill, Whiting tutored Tsuneo Watanabe in English. Watanabe was a reporter for the ''Yomiuri Shimbun'' at that time, but is now (as of 2014) the Chairman of the Board of the newspaper - which has the highest circulation in the world.〔("Osaka mayor, Yomiuri boss trade dictator insults," ) ''Japan Today'', March 23, 2012〕〔("Highest Newspaper Circulation," ) Highest Daily Newspaper Circulation, Guinness World Records〕〔(Tsuneo Watanabe, Executive Profile ) ''Bloomberg Businessweek''〕〔(Blair, Gavin and Whiting, Robert. "Robert Whiting," ) ''# 1 Shimbum'', Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, December, 2013〕 Whiting wrote his thesis on the factions of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. His professor, Dr. Ori Kan, gave him an "A" on the project, though he tempered his praise for Whiting's scholarship (ironically, as it turns out, given Whiting’s later career path). "Your research is outstanding,” he told Whiting “but you really should learn how to write."〔Schreiber, Marc. "Best-selling author Robert Whiting talks baseball, gangsters, bribes and more," ''The Japan Times'', April 4, 2004〕 Whiting graduated from Sophia in 1969.< 〔(Blair, Gavin and Whiting, Robert. "Robert Whiting," ) ''# 1 Shimbum'', Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, December, 2013〕 Whiting's research into the ties binding Japan’s leading politicians to ''yakuza'' bosses gained him entrée into the Higashi Nakano wing of Tokyo’s largest criminal gang, the ''Sumiyoshi-kai'', where he became an “informal advisor.” He worked for Encyclopaedia Britannica Japan as an editor until 1972, until in his words, he "got bored of being a gaijin" and moved to New York City, where he wrote his first book, ''The Chrysanthemum and the Bat''. He later returned to Tokyo and worked for Time-Life for a year before becoming a free-lance author.< 〔(Blair, Gavin and Whiting, Robert. "Robert Whiting," ) ''# 1 Shimbum'', Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, December, 2013〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Robert Whiting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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