Tokyo Soccer (Tokyo Football)

Japan Professional Football League ( Nippon Puro Sakk? R?gu?), or J.LEAGUE (J??? J R?gu?), is the top professional football (soccer) league in Japan and one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football.

Before the Formation of J.LEAGUE (-1992)

Before the J.LEAGUE was created, the highest level of club soccer in Japan was the Japan Soccer League (JSL), and consisted of amateur teams. Fans were few, the grounds were not of the highest quality, and the Japanese national team was not on a par with the Asian powerhouses. To raise the level of play domestically, to attempt to garner more fans, and to strengthen the national team, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to form a professional league.

The professional soccer league, J.LEAGUE was formed in 1992, with ten clubs drawn from the JSL. At this point the JSL changed its name and became the Japan Football League (former), a semi-professional league. Although the J.LEAGUE did not officially launch until 1993, the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup competition was held between the ten clubs in 1992.

Japanese baseball

was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, and the first formal team was established in 1878, and it has been a popular sport since. It is called ?? (????; yaky?) in Japanese, combining the characters for field and ball.

In 1913 and in 1922, American baseball stars visited Japan and played games against university students. They also held clinics on technique. A retired major league player, Herb Hunter, made eight trips to Japan from 1922 to 1932 organizing games and coaching clinics.

It is played at all age levels but most widely in junior high schools and senior high schools. In March and August, two tournaments are held in Koshien Stadium for senior high school teams that win a prefectural tournament.

Rugby

Rugby union in Japan is a growing sport.

Japan has the fourth largest rugby union playing populations in the world and the sport has been played there for over 100 years. There are 125,000 Japanese rugby players.

The Japanese team are known for their speed and resourcefulness but have sometimes been at a disadvantage due to their relatively smaller size compared to Southern hemisphere and European players. This is changing, however, as the Japanese diet increasingly includes more meat at the expense of fish and resembles Western diets more closely. (As Japan is the nation of sumo, there is no obvious reason why they cannot produce large rugby union players.)


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