Japan men's national basketball team

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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

2015–2019: Under Armour[12] 2021-: Nike, Inc.[12]

2015: Xebio[12]
2016: Sportsnavi live
2017–2019: SoftBank[13]

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