Japan men's national basketball team

Japan
FIBA ranking	26 (1 March 2024)
Joined FIBA	1936
FIBA zone	FIBA Asia
National federation	JBA
Coach	Tom Hovasse
Nickname(s)	アカツキジャパン (Akatsuki Japan)
Olympic Games
Appearances	8
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	19
Medals	Silver: (1951, 1962); Bronze: (1954, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2014)
Home	Away

Japan against China at the 1923 Far Eastern Games.

The Japan national basketball team, also known as Akatsuki Japan (Japanese: アカツキジャパン), is the national team representing Japan in international basketball competitions and 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] As the 1936 founding member of FIBA Asia, Japan has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions.

Japan is 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 has 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 against 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	Qualified	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	did not qualify
2019	Preliminary round	5	0	5
2023	Classification round	5	3	2
2027	Future event
Total		31	8	23

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
2025	to be determined
Total	29/31	221	146	75

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 – 8th

East Asian Games

1993 – 5th
1997 – 5th
2001 –
2005 –
2009 –
2013 – 4th

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[5]

Japan national basketball team – 2024 Summer Olympics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Age – Date of birth	Height	Club
PG	2	Yuki Togashi (C)	30 – (1993-07-30)30 July 1993	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)	Chiba Jets
SF	4	Akira Jacobs	20 – (2004-04-13)13 April 2004	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
PG	5	Yuki Kawamura	23 – (2001-05-02)2 May 2001	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)	Yokohama B-Corsairs
SG	6	Makoto Hiejima	33 – (1990-08-11)11 August 1990	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	Utsunomiya Brex
PG	7	Kai Toews	25 – (1998-09-17)17 September 1998	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	Alvark Tokyo
PF	8	Rui Hachimura	26 – (1998-02-08)8 February 1998	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	Los Angeles Lakers
SF	12	Yuta Watanabe	29 – (1994-10-13)13 October 1994	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	Memphis Grizzlies
SF	18	Yudai Baba	28 – (1995-11-07)7 November 1995	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Nagasaki Velca
F/C	24	Josh Hawkinson	29 – (1995-06-23)23 June 1995	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	Sun Rockers Shibuya
SG	30	Keisei Tominaga	23 – (2001-02-01)1 February 2001	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	Indiana Pacers
C	34	Hugh Watanabe	25 – (1998-12-23)23 December 1998	2.07 m (6 ft 9 in)	Ryukyu Golden Kings
SF	91	Hirotaka Yoshii	26 – (1998-06-04)4 June 1998	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Alvark Tokyo

Head coach

Tom Hovasse^[6]

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
Club – describes last
club before the tournament
Age – describes age
on 25 August 2023

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
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

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup: finished 19th among 32 teams

Roster for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[13]

Japan national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Age – Date of birth	Height	Club
PG	2	Yuki Togashi (C)	30 – (1993-07-30)30 July 1993	1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)	Chiba Jets
PG	5	Yuki Kawamura	22 – (2001-05-02)2 May 2001	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)	Yokohama B-Corsairs
SG	6	Makoto Hiejima	33 – (1990-08-11)11 August 1990	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	Utsunomiya Brex
SF	12	Yuta Watanabe	28 – (1994-10-13)13 October 1994	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	Phoenix Suns
SG	18	Yudai Baba	27 – (1995-11-07)7 November 1995	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Texas Legends
SG	19	Yudai Nishida	24 – (1999-03-13)13 March 1999	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	SeaHorses Mikawa
C	24	Josh Hawkinson	28 – (1995-06-23)23 June 1995	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	Sun Rockers Shibuya
G	30	Keisei Tominaga	22 – (2001-02-01)1 February 2001	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	Nebraska Cornhuskers
SF	31	Shuta Hara	29 – (1993-12-17)17 December 1993	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)	Chiba Jets
PF	75	Soichiro Inoue	24 – (1999-05-07)7 May 1999	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	Sun Rockers Shibuya
SF	91	Hirotaka Yoshii	25 – (1998-06-04)4 June 1998	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	Alvark Tokyo
C	99	Koya Kawamata	25 – (1998-06-16)16 June 1998	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	Shiga Lakes