Japan national basketball team

Japan Japan
FIBA ranking 48 Steady[1]
Joined FIBA 1936
FIBA zone FIBA Asia
National federation Japan Basketball Association
Coach Julio Lamas
Olympic Games
Appearances 6
Medals None
FIBA World Cup
Appearances 5
Medals None
Asian Championships
Appearances 28
Medals Gold: (1965, 1971)
Silver: (1969, 1975, 1979, 1983, 1997)
Bronze: (1960, 1967, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1995)
Asian Games
Appearances 16
Medals Silver: (1951, 1962)
Bronze: (1954, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2014)
Uniforms
Light
Dark
Former logo of the Japan Basketball Association JABBA
Japan against China at the 1923 Far Eastern Games.
Takuya Kawamura has drawn the interest of scouts worldwide
Kosuke Takeuchi has been the face of the national team for many years

The Japanese national basketball team is administered by the Japan Basketball Association (JBA). (Japanese: 日本バスケットボール協会)[2] A 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia, Japan has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions.

Japan has one of the most successful basketball teams in Asia. It has won the Asian Basketball Championships twice and is the second leading nation in qualifications to the event. The team qualified for the Olympic Games six times and for the FIBA World Cup four times.

Japan has traditionally brought forth several of Asia's elite basketball players who competed in the NBA and in Europe. These players include Yuta Tabuse, J.R. Sakuragi, Takuya Kawamura, Takumi Ishizaki and others. However, for about two decades, they rarely played for the national team, which caused Team Japan to fall behind Asia's elite competition from Iran, South Korea, the Philippines and China.

In 2014, Yuta Tabuse and several of Japan's top players returned to the national team and helped to reach its best finish in almost 20 years.

History

Japan's national team had its first international tournament at the 3rd Far Eastern Games held in Tokyo in 1917. Japan representative at this time was the team of the Kyoto YMCA. Later, the team was a founding member of the Olympics Basketball competition in Berlin 1936. Henceforth, they participated almost every time until 1976. Team Japan was a regular at world tournaments. It had its debut at the FIBA World Championship in 1963. It was the top team in Asia, as it won the championship there in 1965 and 1971. Since the rise of China, Japan declined a little bit and appearances at global events became scarcer.

As runner-up at the Fukuoka Universiade in 1995, Team Nippon (as the Japanese are also called) had a streak of success and qualified for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, its first qualification in over 30 years. Coached by the Croat Željko Pavličević, the team played well but did not make it out of the primary round, where it lost its fourth-place battle against former Semi-finalist New Zealand.

In recent years, Japan played against more intense competition from the Middle East. Combined with many player absences from the team, Team Nippon struggled to win medals at the Asian Championships since its silver medal in 1997. At the 2008 event in their home country (Tokushima), the team finished at the 8th position and missed qualification for both the Beijing Olympic Tournament and qualification to the 2010 FIBA World Championship. At the 2009 FIBA Asia tournament the team sank to No. 10 position, its worst performance. This was partly due to the change of the head coach just before the tournament.

To better the results, the American coach Thomas Wisman took over the management of the team in 2010 and made some considerable improvements. Wisman just came off a phenomenal year in the Japanese Basketball League (JBL) where he had led Tochigi Brex to its first and only national title. At the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup in 2010, Team Nippon was defeated by host Lebanon but exceeded expectations as it finished as runner-up. At the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship, the listed goal of the Final Four was missed as the team reached the 7th position out of 15. The team managed to defeat finalists, Jordan, but then had to play Korea in the first playoff round and were defeated.

In March 2012, the Japan Association dismissed Wissmann and the country's coaching legend Kimikazu Suzuki took over the reins of the team. Suzuki, concurrently coaching the Aisin SeaHorses Mikawa had initial success as Team Nippon finished Runner-up at the next FIBA Asian Cup which was held in Tokyo in September 2012. Aimed at the acquisition of a 2014 FIBA World Cup berth, the team finished the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at the 9th position where it lost its last three games. They will co-host the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup along with Philippines and Indonesia.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Year Position Tournament Host
19369Basketball at the 1936 Summer OlympicsBerlin, Germany
195610Basketball at the 1956 Summer OlympicsMelbourne, Australia
196015Basketball at the 1960 Summer OlympicsRome, Italy
196410Basketball at the 1964 Summer OlympicsTokyo, Japan
197214Basketball at the 1972 Summer OlympicsMunich, Germany
197611Basketball at the 1976 Summer OlympicsMontreal, Canada
2020Qualified as host[3]Basketball at the 2020 Summer OlympicsTokyo, Japan

FIBA Basketball World Cup

Year Position Tournament Host
1963131963 FIBA World ChampionshipRio de Janeiro, Brazil
1967111967 FIBA World ChampionshipUruguay
1998141998 FIBA World ChampionshipAthens, Greece
2006202006 FIBA World ChampionshipJapan
2019To be determined2019 FIBA World ChampionshipChina
2023Qualified as Co-Host2023 FIBA Basketball World CupPhilippines, Japan and Indonesia

FIBA Asia Cup

Year Position Tournament Host
19603rd, bronze medalist(s)1960 ABC ChampionshipManila, Philippines
1963–1963 ABC ChampionshipTaipei City, Chinese Taipei
19651st, gold medalist(s)1965 ABC ChampionshipKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
19673rd, bronze medalist(s)1967 ABC ChampionshipSeoul, South Korea
19692nd, silver medalist(s)1969 ABC ChampionshipBangkok, Thailand
19711st, gold medalist(s)1971 ABC ChampionshipTokyo, Japan
197341973 ABC ChampionshipManila, Philippines
19752nd, silver medalist(s)1975 ABC ChampionshipBangkok, Thailand
19773rd, bronze medalist(s)1977 ABC ChampionshipKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
19792nd, silver medalist(s)1979 ABC ChampionshipNagoya, Japan
19813rd, bronze medalist(s)1981 ABC ChampionshipCalcutta, India
19832nd, silver medalist(s)1983 ABC ChampionshipHong Kong
198551985 ABC ChampionshipKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
19873rd, bronze medalist(s)1987 ABC ChampionshipBangkok, Thailand
198941989 ABC ChampionshipBeijing, China
19913rd, bronze medalist(s)1991 ABC ChampionshipKobe, Japan
199371993 ABC ChampionshipJakarta, Indonesia
19953rd, bronze medalist(s)1995 ABC ChampionshipSeoul, South Korea
19972nd, silver medalist(s)1997 ABC ChampionshipRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
199951999 ABC ChampionshipFukuoka, Japan
200162001 ABC ChampionshipShanghai, China
200362003 ABC ChampionshipHarbin, China
200552005 FIBA Asia ChampionshipDoha, Qatar
200782007 FIBA Asia ChampionshipTokushima, Japan
2009102009 FIBA Asia ChampionshipTianjin, China
201172011 FIBA Asia ChampionshipWuhan, China
201392013 FIBA Asia ChampionshipManila, Philippines
201542015 FIBA Asia ChampionshipChangsha, China
201792017 FIBA Asia CupBeirut, Lebanon

Team

Current roster

Japan men's national basketball team – 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification roster
PlayersCoaches
}
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG 0 Ryoma Hashimoto 29 – (1988-05-11)May 11, 1988 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) SeaHorses Mikawa Japan
PG 2 Yuki Togashi 24 – (1993-07-30)July 30, 1993 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) Chiba Jets Funabashi Japan
PG 3 Naoto Tsuji 28 – (1989-09-08)September 8, 1989 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
PG 6 Makoto Hiejima 26 – (1990-08-11)August 11, 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) SeaHorses Mikawa Japan
PG 7 Ryusei Shinoyama 29 – (1988-07-20)July 20, 1988 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
C 8 Atsuya Ota 33 – (1984-06-04)June 4, 1984 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) San-en NeoPhoenix Japan
PG 11 Naoki Uto 27 – (1991-06-11)June 11, 1991 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Toyama Grouses Japan
PF 15 Joji Takeuchi 33 – (1985-01-25)January 25, 1985 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Alvark Tokyo Japan
SF 21 Rui Hachimura 20 – (1998-02-08)February 8, 1998 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Gonzaga United States
PF 22 Nick Fazekas (NP) 32 – (1985-06-17)June 17, 1985 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
SG 24 Daiki Tanaka 25 – (1991-09-03)September 3, 1991 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Alvark Tokyo Japan
SG 25 Takatoshi Furukawa 29 – (1987-10-20)October 20, 1987 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Ryukyu Golden Kings Japan
C 43 Yuya Nagayoshi (S) 26 – (1991-07-14)July 14, 1991 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Kyoto Hannaryz Japan
SF 88 Tenketsu Harimoto 25 – (1992-01-08)January 8, 1992 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Nagoya Diamond Dolphins Japan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (NP) Naturalized player
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 8 August 2017

Depth Chart

Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Nick Fazekas Atsuya Ota
PF Rui Hachimura Joji Takeuchi Tenketsu Harimoto
SF Yudai Baba Daiki Tanaka Ryumo Ono
SG Makoto Hiejima Takatoshi Furukawa
PG Yuki Togashi Ryusei Shinoyama Ryoma Hashimoto

Other notable players

Other current notable players from Japan:

Japan roster
PlayersCoaches
}
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG Yuta Tabuse 37 – (1980-10-05)5 October 1980 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) Link Tochigi Brex Japan
Legend
  • Club – describes current club
  • Age – describes age on 14 February 2018

Head coaches

Past rosters

Scroll down to see more.

1936 Olympic Games: finished 13th among 21 teams

Riichi Cho, T.Nakae, S.Ri, K.Yokoyama, T.Kanakogi, M.Maeda, U.Munakata, S.Matsui

1956 Olympic Games: finished 10th among 15 teams

Setsuo Nara, Jose Rodriguez, Kenichi Imaizumi, Hiroshi Saito, Reizo Ohira, Hitoshi Konno, Takashi Itoyama, Manabu Fujita, Takeo Sugiyama, Tetsuro Noborisaka, Riichi Arai (Coach: M.Maeda)

1960 Olympic Games: finished 15th among 16 teams

Setsuo Nara, Shutaro Shoji, Hiroshi Saito, Takashi Itoyama, Takeo Sugiyama, Kenichi Imaizumi, Yasukuni Oshima, Shoji Kamata, Masashi Shiga, Takashi Masuda, Kaoru Wakabayashi, Hideo Kanekawa (Coach: M.Maeda)

1963 World Championship: finished 13th among 13 teams

Setsuo Nara, Takashi Masuda, Masashi Shiga, Yasukuni Oshima, Kaoru Wakabayashi, Keizo Okayama, Isamu Yamaguchi, Yoshikuni Awano, Fumihiko Moroyama, Katsuji Tsunoda, Kunihiko Nakamura, Yoshitaka Egawa (Coach: Shiro Yoshii)

1964 Olympic Games: finished 10th among 16 teams

Takashi Masuda, Setsuo Nara, Masashi Shiga, Kaoru Wakabayashi, Fumihiko Moroyama, Katsuji Tsunoda, Kunihiko Nakamura, Yoshitaka Egawa, Nobuo Kaiho, Akira Kodama, Katsuo Bai, Seiji Fujie (Coach: Marco Antonio de Venetis)

1967 World Championship: finished 11th among 13 teams

Kaoru Wakabayashi, Fumihiko Moroyama, Kunihiko Nakamura, Yoshitaka Egawa, Akira Kodama, Masatomo Taniguchi, Nobuo Hattori, Kenji Soda, Masahiko Yoshida, Isao Kimura, Seiji Igarashi (Coach: Shutaro Shoji)

1972 Olympic Games: finished 14th among 16 teams

Kenji Soda, Masatomo Taniguchi, Nobuo Hattori, Kunihiko Yokoyama, Atsushi Somamoto, Hirofumi Numata, Shigeaki Abe, Mineo Yoshikawa, Kazufumi Sakai, Nobuo Chigusa, Satoshi Mori, Katsuhiko Sugita (Coach: S.Kasahara)

1976 Olympic Games: finished 11th among 12 teams

Hirofumi Numata, Shigeaki Abe, Satoshi Mori, Norihiko Kitahara, Hideki Hamaguchi, Kiyohide Kuwata, Koji Yamamoto, Yutaka Fujimoto, Shigeto Shimizu, Fumio Saito, Nobuo Chigusa, Shoji Yuki (Coach: Masahiko Yoshida)

1998 World Championship: finished 14th among 16 teams

Kenichi Sako, Maikeru Takahashi, Akifumi Yamasaki, Hiroshi Nagano, Makoto Hasegawa, Takehiko Orimo, Satoshi Sakumoto, Hiroyuki Tominaga, Takahiro Setsumasa, Makoto Minamiyama, Takeshi Yuki, Satoru Furuta (Coach: Mototaka Kohama)

2006 World Championship: finished 20th among 24 teams

Takehiko Orimo, Satoru Furuta, Takahiro Setsumasa, Shunsuke Ito, Joji Takeuchi, Kei Igarashi, Shinsuke Kashiwagi, Daiji Yamada, Ryota Sakurai, Kosuke Takeuchi, Takuya Kawamura, Tomoo Amino (Coach: Zeljko Pavlicevic)

Roster for the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:[6]

Japan men's national basketball team roster
PlayersCoaches
}
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClub
PG 0 Tabuse, Yuta 35 – (1980-10-05)5 October 1980 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) Link Tochigi Brex Japan
PG 3 Tsuji, Naoto 26 – (1989-09-08)8 September 1989 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Toshiba BT Japan
SG 6 Hiejima, Makoto 24 – (1990-08-11)11 August 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Aisin SeaHorses Mikawa Japan
C 8 Ota, Atsuya 32 – (1984-04-06)6 April 1984 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Higashimikawa Phoenix Japan
C 10 Takeuchi, Kosouke 31 – (1985-01-29)29 January 1985 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Hiroshima Dragonflies Japan
PG 11 Hashimoto, Ryoma 28 – (1988-05-11)11 May 1988 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Aisin SeaHorses Mikawa Japan
F 12 Watanabe, Yuta 21 – (1994-10-13)13 October 1994 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) George Washington Colonials United States
C 15 Takeuchi, Joji 31 – (1985-01-29)29 January 1985 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Hitachi SR Japan
G 16 Matsui, Keijuro 30 – (1985-10-16)16 October 1985 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Toyota Alvark Japan
SG 25 Furukawa, Takatoshi 28 – (1987-10-20)20 October 1987 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Link Tochigi Brex Japan
SF 34 Ono, Ryumo 28 – (1988-01-06)6 January 1988 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Chiba Jets Japan
G 42 Hirose, Kenta 26 – (1989-08-29)29 August 1989 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Hitachi SR Japan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on July 4, 2016

At the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.[7]

Japan men's national basketball team - 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge roster
PlayersCoaches
}
Pos.No.NameAge – Date of birthHeightClubCtr.
PG 3 Naoto Tsuji 27 – (1989-09-08)8 September 1989 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
PF 5 Yuki Mitsuhara 26 – (1989-12-12)12 December 1989 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Sunrockers Shibuya Japan
PG 6 Makoto Hiejima 26 – (1990-08-11)11 August 1990 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Seahorses Mikawa Japan
PG 7 Ryusei Shinoyama 28 – (1988-07-20)20 July 1988 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
C 8 Atsuya Ota 32 – (1984-06-04)4 June 1984 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) San en Neophoneix Japan
PG 11 Ryoma Hashimoto 28 – (1988-05-11)11 May 1988 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Seahorses Mikawa Japan
SF 20 Takanobu Nishikawa 24 – (1992-01-14)14 January 1992 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Levanga Hokkiado Japan
PG 22 Yuma Fujii 24 – (1991-12-23)23 December 1991 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
SG 25 Takatoshi Furukawa 28 – (1987-10-20)20 October 1987 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Tochigi Brex Japan
PF 35 Ira Brown 34 – (1982-08-03)3 August 1982 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Sunrockers Shibuya Japan
PF 43 Yuya Nagayoshi 25 – (1991-07-14)14 July 1991 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Kawasaki Brave Thunders Japan
SF 88 Tenketsu Harimoto 24 – (1992-01-08)8 January 1992 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) Nagoya Diamond Dolphins Japan
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Japan Kenji Sato
Legend
  • Club – describes last
    club before the tournament
  • Age – describes age
    on 9 September 2016

Kit

Manufacturer

2015-2017: Under Armour [8]

2015: Xebio [8]
2016: Sportsnavi live
2017: SoftBank [9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA Ranking for Men". Fiba.Com. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  2. ↑ http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/FIBA/fibaStru/nfLeag/nfProf.asp?nationalFederationNumber=309
  3. ↑ "Japan launch search for new coach after Hasegawa departure". FIBA. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016. "The JBA is not guaranteed participation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games as the host country and has already begun a restructuring (of the program) and strengthening activities towards the 2019 FIBA World Cup and 2020 and beyond," Higashino said.
  4. ↑ "Japan hoops set to hire Hasegawa". The Japan Times. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Japan launch search for new coach after Hasegawa departure". FIBA. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. ↑ http://www.fiba.com/oqt/serbia/2016/news/japan-select-12-men-to-chase-olympic-dream
  7. ↑ Japan - FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, FIBA.COM. Accessed 13 February 2017.
  8. 1 2 2015 FIBA Asia Championship - Japan, FIBA.com, Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Fiba Asia Cup 2017, FIBA.com, accessed 21 August 2017.

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