Exactly a year after Barack Obama was voted to replace him as president, George W. Bush was in Japan on Wednesday talking about his former life _ in sports.

Bush, a former part-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, offered no assessment of choices facing his successor on Afghanistan, climate change or the economy.

Instead, he dished out advice to Japanese university students about running a sports franchise.

"Now I'm retired, so I'm glad to be talking about sports," Bush told an auditorium full of students and staff at prestigious Waseda University for a special sports science class.

Bush was generally unpopular in Japan during his time as president because of opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but you wouldn't know it from the warm reception he got at Waseda.

A cheerleading team performed stunts for him on stage _ spelling his name with their pompoms _ and attendees eagerly reached out to shake his hand.

During his brief speech, Bush outlined key points for developing a successful franchise.

Make sure the stadium has a pleasant environment. Hire "good baseball people" to make key decisions about which players to select. Treat the media "as an ally, not an antagonist."

But the best marketing is winning, he said.

"Problem is, it's not that easy," the former two-term president said. Plenty of fans yelled at him when the Rangers were doing poorly, he said. "That's part of sports. I never took it personally." Continued...