Changing Room Chat: Bush pitches up at Japan Series

THERE really wasn't any way he was going to stay out of the headlines for long, was there?

Former US President George W Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch yesterday before Game 3 of the Japan Series between the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters. Bush, wearing a Yomiuri warm-up jacket, took the mound at Tokyo Dome and threw a pitch to Giants catcher Shinnosuke Abe that bounced once in the dirt before being caught.

Bush chatted with players after walking off the field and watched the game in a box with former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Also in the box were Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh and US Ambassador John Roos.

The Giants won the game 7-4 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, Japan's version of the World Series.

Dozens of demonstrators marched outside the stadium protesting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that were launched by the Bush administration. One protester threw his shoes at a photo of the former president, mimicking Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who launched his own footwear at Bush at a Baghdad news conference in December.