 | |||
| FIBA ranking | 22 (2 December 2025)[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| JoinedFIBA | 1936 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Asia | ||
| National federation | JBA | ||
| Coach | Dai Oketani | ||
| Nickname(s) | アカツキジャパン (Akatsuki Japan) | ||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Appearances | 8 | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 6 | ||
| FIBA Asia Cup | |||
| Appearances | 30 | ||
| Medals |  Gold: (1965,1971) Silver: (1969,1975,1979,1983,1997) Bronze: (1960,1967,1977,1981,1987,1991,1995) | ||
| First international | |||
 Japan 35–19Republic of China  (Berlin, Germany; 7 August 1936) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Japan 131–38Hong Kong  (Tokyo, Japan; 1 November 1971) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Japan 33–99United States  (Munich, West Germany; 3 September 1972) | |||
Medal record | |||
TheJapan men's national basketball team, also known asAkatsuki Japan (Japanese:アカツキジャパン) representsJapan in internationalbasketball competitions, and is administered by theJapan Basketball Association (JBA), (Japanese: 日本バスケットボール協会,Nihon Basukettobōru Kyōkai).[2] Japan became aFIBA member in 1936, and has one of Asia's longest basketball traditions.
Japan is one of the most successful basketball teams in Asia. It has won theFIBA Asia Cup twice and is the second leading nation in qualifications to the event. On the global stage, Japan has qualified for theFIBA World Cup six times and competed at theOlympic Games on eight occasions.
Japan's national team had its first international tournament at the3rd Far Eastern Games held in Tokyo in 1917, at which Japan was represented by the team of theKyotoYMCA.
Later, the team was a founding member of theOlympics 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 theFIBA World Championship in 1963. It was the top team in Asia, as it won the championship there in 1965 and 1971.
At the1976 Summer Olympics, Japan'sShigeaki Abe put up a noteworthy performance of 38 points and 10 assists againstPuerto Rico.[3]
As runner-up at theFukuoka Universiade in 1995,Team Nippon (as the Japanese are also called) had a streak of success and qualified for the1998 FIBA World Championship, its first qualification in over 30 years. Coached by the CroatŽeljko 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-finalistNew 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 theNBA and in Europe. These players includedYuta 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 fromIran,South Korea, thePhilippines andChina.
To better the results, the American coachThomas 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 ledTochigi Brex to its first and only national title. At theFIBA 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 finalistsJordan but then lost toSouth Korea in the first playoff round and was defeated.
In March 2012, the Japan Association dismissed Wissmann and the country's coaching legendKimikazu Suzuki took over the reins of the team. Suzuki, concurrently coaching theAisin SeaHorses Mikawa had initial success as Team Nippon finished Runner-up at the nextFIBA Asia Challenge tournament, which was held in Tokyo in September 2012. Aimed at the acquisition of a2014 FIBA World Cup berth, the team, however, finished the2013 FIBA Asia Championship in 9th place.[4]
After Japan's missed opportunity to reach the World Cup, Team Nippon entered the2015 FIBA Asia Championship, with the return ofYuta Tabuse and several other top players from the national team. They would win two of their three preliminary round games, to eventually make it all the way to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 1997. Although they would ultimately fall short in the round against thePhilippines, and subsequently losing the third place game toIran.[5]
Two years later, Japan failed to make it into the quarter-finals at the2017 FIBA Asia Cup, being defeated bySouth Korea in the qualification to the round.[6] Following the event, Japan enteredAsian Qualifiers for the2019 FIBA World Cup, where they would amass an (8–5) record during their qualifying campaign to reach the finals.[7][8] At the competition, Japan endured a disappointing tournament, losing all three of their group phase games, as well as their two classification matches to finish (0–5) to be eliminated.[9]
Japan co-hosted the2023 FIBA World Cup along with the Philippines and Indonesia.After losing their first game of the group phase against the eventually championsGermany, Akatsuki Japan obtained their first ever victory against a European opponentFinland 98–88.[10] Following the historic win, Japan lost their final group game versusAustralia, and sent to the classification round before exiting the tournament.[11]
Japan played at the2024 Olympics in Paris, and were allocated in Group B. In the first game, they lost to Germany.[12] In the second game, Japan was close to an upset win against hostsFrance, conceding the game only after overtime.[13]Yuki Kawamura followedKevin Durant andLuol Deng as the third player in Olympic history to have more than 25+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ assists.[13] were eliminated after losing toBrazil on the final gameday.[14]
| 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, West Germany |
| 1976 | 11 | Basketball at the 1976 Summer Olympics | Montreal, Canada |
| 2020 | 11[15] | Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan |
| 2024 | 11 | Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics | Paris, France |
| FIBA World Cup record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Position | Pld | W | L | |
 1950 | No qualification for Asia | ||||
 1954 | Did not qualify | ||||
 1959 | |||||
 1963 | Preliminary round | 8 | 1 | 7 | |
 1967 | Classification round | 8 | 2 | 6 | |
 1970 | Did not qualify | ||||
 1974 | |||||
 1978 | |||||
 1982 | |||||
 1986 | |||||
| 1990 | |||||
 1994 | |||||
 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 | Classification round | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
 2027 | To be determined | ||||
| Total | 6/18 | 36 | 8 | 28 | |
| FIBA Asia Cup record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Position | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD |
| 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 | 480 | 392 | +88 |
| 2025 | 9th place | 4 | 2 | 2 | 344 | 306 | +38 |
| Total | 30/31 | 225 | 148 | 77 | |||
Asian Games[edit]
| East Asian Games[edit]
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Roster for the2025 FIBA Asia Cup.[16][17]
| Japan men's national basketball team – 2025 FIBA Asia Cup roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nobuaki Asano – 1936Keishu Makiyama – 1951–1954Tetsuo Oba – 1954–1956Seiichi Morisawa – 1957–1960M. Maeda – 1956, 1960Shiro Yoshii – 1962–1964Marco Antonio de Venetis – 1964Tadashi Miura – 1965Shutaro Shoji – 1966Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1967 Shiro Yoshii – 1967 Keishu Makiyama – 1969Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1970Kuninaka Taketomi – 1971 Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1972–1973Masahiko Yoshida – 1974–1976 Shigeyoshi Kasahara – 1977Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1978Tsunetoshi Akiyoshi – 1978–1979Mototaka Kohama – 1979 Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1980–1983 Mototaka Kohama – 1984–1989 Yoshiaki Shimizu – 1990Yoshinori Shimizu – 1991–1994James Gordon – 1994Toshimitsu Kawachi – 1995–1996 Mototaka Kohama – 1996–2000Tom Newell – 2000Kenji Yoshida – 2000–2002
Željko Pavličević – 2003–06Kimikazu Suzuki – 2006–2007David Hobbs – 2009Osamu Kuraishi – 2009Shuji Ono – 2009Thomas Wisman – 2010–12 Kimikazu Suzuki – 2012–13Kenji Hasegawa – 2014–2016[18][19]
Luka Pavićević – 2016–17[19]Akira Rikukawa – 2017Julio César Lamas – 2017–2021[20]Tom Hovasse[21] – 2021–present1936 Olympic Games: finished13th among 21 teams
Riichi Cho, T.Nakae, S.Ri, K.Yokoyama, T.Kanakogi, M.Maeda, U.Munakata, S.Matsui
1956 Olympic Games: finished10th 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: finished15th 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: finished13th 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: finished10th 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: finished11th 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: finished14th 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: finished11th 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: finished14th 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: finished20th 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 the2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments:[22]
| Japan men's national basketball team roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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At the2016 FIBA Asia Challenge.[23]
| Japan men's national basketball team – 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Roster for the2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.[24]
| Japan national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2015–2019 :Under Armour[26]
2021–2022 :Nike, Inc.
2022–present :Jordan Brand
2015:Xebio[26]
2016:Sportsnavi live
2017–2019:SoftBank[27]
"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.
FIBA Asia Cup winners | |||||||
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