TANAKA, $195K PLANE RIDE & A TOY DOG

[Les Krupel]

Tanaka arrived to the US in style, charting a private jet ride costing $195,000 for him, his wife, three guests and his dog: "Jiji Press news agency said Tanaka booked out the whole plane -- which usually has about 200 seats -- for a group of five including his wife. His dog -- a brown Toy Poodle - was also aboard, the Sports Nippon said. JAL said the plane had been booked ahead of the heavy snow that hit Japan over the weekend, grounding all regular commercial flights to New York on Sunday and causing travel chaos around the Japanese capital. Even with the luxury of his own airliner, Tanaka did not escape the weather-induced misery, with his journey from a Tokyo hotel to the airport by car taking eight-and-a-half hours. Tanaka paid for the plane so he could take part in the team's camp "in the best of form," a Japanese baseball official who accompanied him reportedly said." Tanaka has apparently landed in the Bronx and will get introduced by the Yankees tomorrow.