Japan men's national basketball team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Japan women's national basketball team.

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

Japan

FIBA ranking	36 2 (27 February 2023)^[1]
Joined FIBA	1936
FIBA zone	FIBA Asia
National federation	JBA
Coach	Tom Hovasse
Nickname(s)	暁ファイブ Aka-tsuki Faibu (The Five Reds)
Olympic Games
Appearances	7
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	6
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)
Home Away
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd FIBA Asia Cup 2 5 7 Asian Games 0 2 6 East Asian Games 0 0 2 Total 2 7 15

Japan against China at the 1923 Far Eastern Games.

Takuya Kawamura drew the interest of scouts worldwide

Kosuke Takeuchi had been the face of the national team for many years

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 7 times and for the FIBA World Cup six times.

History

The beginning (1917–1936)

Japan's national team had its first international tournament at the 3rd Far Eastern Games held in Tokyo in 1917, at which Japan was represented by the team of the Kyoto YMCA.

Later, the team was a founding member of the Olympics Basketball competition in Berlin 1936.

Establishment as a competitor at the global stage (1937–1976)

After 1936, Japan 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.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics, Japan's Shigeaki Abe put up a noteworthy performance of 38 points and 10 assists gainst Puerto Rico.^[3]

Since the rise of China, Japan declined a little bit and appearances at global events became scarcer.

Continued success (1995–1998)

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.

Competition from the Middle East intensifies (1999–2009)

In the late 1990s, 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.

Recovery (2010–present)

Overshadowed by the drawbacks at international competitions, Japan brought forth several of Asia's elite basketball players who competed in the NBA and in Europe. These players included Yuta Tabuse, J.R. Sakuragi, Takuya Kawamura, Takumi Ishizaki and others. However, 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.

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 lost to South Korea in the first playoff round and was 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.

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.

Japan will co-host the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup along with Philippines and Indonesia.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Year	Position	Tournament	Host
1936	9	Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics	Berlin, Germany
1956	10	Basketball at the 1956 Summer Olympics	Melbourne, Australia
1960	15	Basketball at the 1960 Summer Olympics	Rome, Italy
1964	10	Basketball at the 1964 Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan
1972	14	Basketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics	Munich, Germany
1976	11	Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics	Montreal, Canada
2020	11^[4]	Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan
2024	To be determined	Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics	Paris, France

FIBA World Cup

FIBA World Cup Record
Year	Position	Pld	W	L
1950–1959	did not qualify
1963	Preliminary round	3	1	2
1967	Classification round	8	2	6
1970–1994	did not qualify
1998	Classification round	5	1	4
2002	did not qualify
2006	Preliminary round	5	1	4
2010	did not qualify
2014
2019	Preliminary round	5	0	5
2023	Qualified as co-hosts
Total		26	5	21

FIBA Asia Cup

Main article: FIBA Asia Cup

Year	Position	Pld	W	L
1960	3rd place	9	5	4
1963	did not enter
1965	Champions	9	8	1
1967	3rd place	9	7	2
1969	Runners-up	8	7	1
1971	Champions	8	8	0
1973	4th place	10	6	4
1975	Runners-up	8	7	1
1977	3rd place	9	7	2
1979	Runners-up	8	7	1
1981	3rd place	7	5	2
1983	Runners-up	7	5	2
1985	5th place	6	5	1
1987	3rd place	8	6	2
1989	4th place	7	4	3
1991	3rd place	8	5	3
1993	7th place	6	3	3
1995	3rd place	9	7	2
1997	Runners-up	7	4	3
1999	5th place	7	5	2
2001	6th place	6	2	4
2003	6th place	7	3	4
2005	5th place	8	5	3
2007	8th place	8	4	4
2009	10th place	8	3	5
2011	7th place	9	5	4
2013	9th place	7	3	4
2015	4th place	9	5	4
2017	9th place	4	2	2
2022	7th place	5	3	2
Total	29/30	221	146	75

Asian Games See also: Basketball at the Asian Games 1951:   1954:   1958:   1962:   1966: 4th 1970:   1974: 7th 1978: 4th 1982:   1986: 6th 1990: 4th 1994:   1998: 10th 2002: 6th 2006: 6th 2010: 4th 2014:   2018: 7th 2022: To be determined

East Asian Games See also: Basketball at the East Asian Games 1993: 5th 1997: 5th 2001:   2005:   2009:   2013: 4th

Team

2020 Olympic roster

The roster was announced on 5 July 2021.^[5]

Japan national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 2 Yuki Togashi 27 – (1993-07-30)30 July 1993 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) Chiba Jets Funabashi   SG 6 Makoto Hiejima 31 – (1990-04-11)11 April 1990 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Utsunomiya Brex   SF 8 Rui Hachimura 23 – (1998-02-08)8 February 1998 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Washington Wizards   PG 9 Leo Vendrame 27 – (1993-11-14)14 November 1993 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Sun Rockers Shibuya   SF 12 Yuta Watanabe 24 – (1996-10-13)13 October 1996 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Toronto Raptors   SG 14 Kosuke Kanamaru 32 – (1989-03-08)8 March 1989 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Shimane Susanoo Magic   SF 18 Yudai Baba 25 – (1995-11-07)7 November 1995 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Melbourne United   PF 23 Gavin Edwards 33 – (1988-01-15)15 January 1988 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) Chiba Jets Funabashi   SG 24 Daiki Tanaka 29 – (1991-09-03)3 September 1991 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Alvark Tokyo   C 32 Avi Schafer 23 – (1998-01-28)28 January 1998 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) SeaHorses Mikawa   PF 34 Hugh Watanabe 22 – (1998-12-23)23 December 1998 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) Ryukyu Golden Kings   SF 88 Tenketsu Harimoto 29 – (1992-01-08)8 January 1992 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Nagoya Diamond Dolphins	Head coach   Julio Lamas^[6] Assistant coach(es)   Herman Mandole Legend Club – describes last club before the tournament Age – describes age on 25 July 2021

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Gavin Edwards	Kosuke Takeuchi	Avi Schafer
PF	Rui Hachimura	Joji Takeuchi
SF	Yuta Watanabe	Yudai Baba
SG	Daiki Tanaka	Seiya Ando	Shuto Ando
PG	Ryusei Shinoyama	Makoto Hiejima

Head coaches

•   Nobuaki Asano – 1936
•   Keishu Makiyama – 1951–1954
•   Tetsuo Oba – 1954–1956
•   Seiichi Morisawa – 1957–1960
•   M. Maeda – 1956, 1960
•   Shiro Yoshii – 1962–1964
•   Marco Antonio de Venetis – 1964
•   Tadashi Miura – 1965
•   Shutaro Shoji – 1966
•   Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1967
•   Shiro Yoshii – 1967
•   Keishu Makiyama – 1969
•   Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1970
•   Kuninaka Taketomi – 1971
•   Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1972–1973
•   Masahiko Yoshida – 1974–1976
•   Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1977
•   Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1978
•   Tsunetoshi Akiyoshi – 1978–1979
•   Mototaka Kohama – 1979
•   Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1980–1983
•   Mototaka Kohama – 1984–1989
•   Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1990
•   Yoshinori Shimizu – 1991–1994
•   James Gordon – 1994
•   Toshimitsu Kawachi – 1995–1996
•   Mototaka Kohama – 1996–2000
•   Tom Newell – 2000
•   Kenji Yoshida – 2000–2002
•   Željko Pavličević – 2003–06
•   Kimikazu Suzuki – 2006–2007
•   David Hobbs – 2009
•   Osamu Kuraishi – 2009
•   Shuji Ono – 2009
•   Thomas Wisman – 2010–12
•   Kimikazu Suzuki – 2012–13
•   Kenji Hasegawa – 2014–2016^[7][8]
•   Luka Pavićević – 2016–17^[8]
•   Akira Rikukawa – 2017
•   Julio César Lamas^[9] – 2017–2021
•   Tom Hovasse^[10] – 2021-

Past rosters

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)

2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments

Roster for the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:^[11]

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

2016 FIBA Asia Challenge

At the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.^[12]

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

Kit

Manufacturer

2015–2019 : Under Armour^[13]
2021–present : Nike, Inc.^[13]

Sponsor

2015: Xebio^[13]
2016: Sportsnavi live
2017–2019: SoftBank^[14]

See also

• Japan women's national basketball team
• Japan national under-19 basketball team
• Japan national under-17 basketball team
• Japan national 3x3 team

References

1. "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
2. "Profile | FIBA.COM".
3. "Yao, Hamed, and Patty shined as stars from Asia & Oceania at the Olympics". FIBA. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
4. "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.
5. "第32回オリンピック競技大会(2020/東京) 5人制バスケットボール男子日本代表チーム 内定選手12名発表". japanbasketball.jp. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
6. (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
7. "Japan hoops set to hire Hasegawa". The Japan Times. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
8. "Japan launch search for new coach after Hasegawa departure". FIBA. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
9. "Basketball: World Cup qualification could prove turning point for Japan". Joel Fitzpatrick/Kyodo News+. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
10. "Basketball: Hovasse replaces Lamas as Japan men's team head coach". Kyodo News. 21 September 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
11. "Japan select 12 men to chase Olympic dream".
12. Japan – FIBA Asia Challenge 2016, FIBA.COM. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
13. 2015 FIBA Asia Championship – Japan, FIBA.com. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
14. Fiba Asia Cup 2017, FIBA.com. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

External links

• Official website  
• FIBA profile
• Japan Basketball Records at FIBA Archive

Videos

• Japan – Highlights – 2015 FIBA Asia Championship YouTube.com video
• Japan Offense Highlights – FIBA Asia Cup 2017 YouTube.com video