Akatsuki Japan is realizing my basketball dream as a Japanese American.
I’ve always wanted to play basketball competitively. However, I am all but destined for a career in the Sunday night leagues.
Luckily for me though, I get to vicariously live out my dreams each year during the NBA season.
This past summer brought a bit of an early treat for a basketball aficionado like myself.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the 2023 Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) World Cup played across the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.
Germany defeated Serbia for the Gold, but their performance did not dominate the headlines. Instead, it was Akatsuki Japan – the Japan Men’s Basketball Team.
Akatsuki Japan’s inspiring performance captivated the hearts of many.
Despite an elimination during pool play — they earned an accomplishment that they had not achieved in forty-eight years: an outright qualification for the next Olympic Games.
Akatsuki Japan breaking the mold
Perhaps more notable though is just how the team got there.
Between the comeback wins and late-game heroics, what shined through the most were the individual efforts to step-up into the spotlight and be “that guy” to drive the team to victory.
To many, this came as a stark strategic deviation from Japan’s typical prioritization of team-centric play-calling and fundamentals.
To me, this was a Western influenced adaptation in athletic culture . A noted change in sport that very well could facilitate a new wave of play more apt to fostering newsworthy, “star” talent from Japan.
The FIBA World Cup saw Japan collect three victories overall, with each one seemingly having a different hero.
Their first win was a hard fought comeback over Finland where the team would erase an eighteen point deficit, mainly led by Yuki Kawamura’s twenty-five points and nine assists.
Against Venezuela history seemingly repeated itself with…
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