The Hachi #7: False Spring

A bit of everything as we head toward warmer days and louder nights

The J.League kicks off over the next week, semi-officially tomorrow (Saturday) with the Fujifilm Super Cup and then for real on Feb. 23 when Sanfrecce Hiroshima host Urawa Reds on opening day.

And I am Definitely Not Ready.

Don’t get me wrong — I'm certainly a bit more mentally and physically prepared than I was a year ago, when I was still recovering from long COVID at the start of the season and basically used those first few games as therapy to help acclimate myself to going outside again.

But even without all that, it feels like the offseason has ended even faster than past years, perhaps because this is the first offseason we’ve had without the specter of a pandemic since 2019.

Maybe that’s why this issue is a little all over the place — and shockingly even a little baseball heavy? — but I want to save all the weird and wild J.League stuff for next week, so for now enjoy a taste of everything that’s crossed my desk these last few days:

1. What went wrong for the Samurai Blue?

The Asian Cup has wrapped up and Japan’s number of trophies in the continental tournament remains at four, with hosts Qatar beating Cinderella story Jordan 3-1 in the Feb. 10 final.

Japan’s journey, meanwhile ended in a frustrating 2-1 quarterfinal defeat to Iran that featured a number of defensive errors, including Ko Itakura’s howler that resulted in the game-winning penalty being awarded to Team Melli.

But there was far more to it than bad defensive play — there were the communication issues that pervaded the squad, the lack of strong management from head coach Hajime Moriyasu, and of course the impact on winger Junya Ito’s sudden departure following controversial sexual assault allegations published in a Japanese tabloid days before the game.

It would take forever to write it all out, which is why I’m fortunate to have been invited onto Deadball TV to take a deep dive into everything that went wrong for the Samurai Blue in the desert.

I’m usually invited onto podcasts and YouTube channels as a Japanese soccer expert to explain stuff to hosts who aren’t familiar with the scene here — something I absolutely love doing, because my goal is get audiences interested in what’s happening in Japan and make them care — but Jack really knows his stuff and it made for a really engaging and thoughtful conversation.

2. Akatsuki Japan women off to Paris

Japan’s women’s basketball team will have a chance to match or beat the silver medal they won at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after qualifying for this year’s Summer Games in Paris with a 86-82 win over Canada on Sunday at a qualifying tournament in Hungary.

The Akatsuki Japan women needed a win in their final game after beating Spain and losing to the hosts, but pulled it off thanks to a 21-point performance by MVP Mai Yamamoto, who was 3-for-5 from behind the arc.

Forward Evelyn Mawuli also scored 21 points after being held to a single point in the loss to Hungary, while her sister Stephanie notched eight as well as two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

The Mawulis, who were born in Aichi Prefecture to Ghanaian parents and naturalized in 2009, are already fixtures for the national team, with a total of three FIBA Asia Cup wins between them as well as Evelyn’s silver medal from Tokyo 2020.

Evelyn notably joined the executive committee of the Japan Basketball Player’s Association in December as a vice president after the organization decided to admit all players in the semi-professional Women’s Japan Basketball League.

3. Cards on the table

If there’s one thing I love in the sports world it’s niche sponsorships that play directly into my nerd-ass interests, and there are few things nerdier than Bushiroad, the Japanese collectable card game giant that also owns pro wrestling circuits NJPW and Stardom, becoming a sponsor of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

The tie-up comes as Bushiroad prepares to releasing Dream Order, an NPB-themed deckbuilder that is… exactly what you’d expect when converting a sport into a card game. Here’s a demo of how it works¹:

Certainly not as easy to pick up and play as, say, Uno, or Cards Against Humanity, is it. But a company like Bushiroad knows its audience, and even if the game itself doesn’t go big, the presence of signed cards in the ¥400 yen booster packs should at least help pad the bottom line.

Personally I’m more intrigued by the accessories Bushiroad are rolling out — if I still played Magic: the Gathering I’d be all over those card sleeves or play mats.

Meanwhile I’m still waiting for the ultimate Japanese sports/tabletop nerd synergy, which would be Wizards of the Coast or Games Workshop sponsoring the B.League’s Tachikawa Dice. It’s just so obvious, someone please make it happen!

4. Sasaki to Stanford

High school home-run king Rintaro Sasaki is heading to the Farm after signing a letter of intent to enroll at Stanford University.

"We are excited to welcome Rintaro into our Stanford family," Clarke and Elizabeth Nelson Director of Baseball David Esquer said following Sasaki's signing. "He may be the most high-profile international prospect to play college baseball in the United States in a long time. His power bat plays right into our style of play, and we look forward to him contributing immediately to help us achieve our goals of competing for and winning national titles."

Sasaki’s background makes him seemingly all but destined for success: he’s graduating from Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture, where his father Hiroshi coaches the baseball team.

Among players the elder Sasaki has coached? None other than Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi.

So yeah, maybe a little pressure.

Sasaki could have declared himself for the NPB Draft and he very likely would have been a first pick — instead he’s going to an elite American university, very likely on a scholarship (and possibly able to cash in on NIL deals), and will then be eligible to participate in the MLB draft (or even, for whatever reason, return to Japan and enter the NPB draft). And probably get an awesome California accent in the process.

On the other side of the country, Naoyuki Uwasawa is pretty pumped to join the Tampa Bay Rays — well, their minor league team, at least — after being successfully posted by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

5. DAZN reaches to a rival

A month ago I wrote about the outsized impact DAZN has had on Japanese soccer, even as the streaming service continues to raise prices in an effort to stay afloat.

Now DAZN is going so far as to offer a subscription plan on rival streaming service AbemaTV, which already shows some Premier League and Bundesliga games as well as professional sumo, Super Formula and various other less-major golf and tennis tournaments.

Screenshot showing some DAZN content that will be available through AbemaTV.

Notably absent from this deal is NPB, which will remain a DAZN exclusive (except for the Hiroshima Carp, who don’t offer their home games to the service), but this is still a huge coup for AbemaTV, who made waves in late 2022 when they were the only Japanese service to air all of that year’s FIFA World Cup live. Their budget-conscious users will also benefit, with DAZN providing a handful of J.League games and European league games featuring Japanese players for free every weekend.

As American viewers prepare for a new sports streaming platform co-founded by ESPN, Fox and Warner Brothers, Japan seems on track for a similar re-alignment. In addition to the Abema-DAZN teamup, U-Next — which is getting heavy into combat sports — has teamed up with SPOTV NOW, whose handful of Japanese licenses includes the Premier League as well as MLB.

6. 👋👋👋

Tokyo may have been robbed of the true Olympic limelight it could have enjoyed due to the pandemic, but it’s worth remembering that Japan is still going to be hosting its share of big international events over the next couple years, such as the 2025 World Athletic Championships in Tokyo and the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.

Another one I’m really interested in seeing develop will be the 2025 Summer Deaflympics, which Tokyo will host for the first time, comprised of 21 sports including international meet standards such as wrestling, volleyball, and basketball, as well as “huh, that’s interesting” sports like bowling and orienteering.

I came across these posters for “Tokyo 2025” on a recent foray to central Tokyo, and it was nice to see that the metro government is starting to get the word out.

The event may not get as much attention as the Paralympics, and I’m sure plenty of Japanese people will wonder why deaf sports aren’t included in the Paralympics, but make no mistake: This will be a big deal, with 3,000 athletes and another 3,000 officials expected to participate.

The host nation will have high expectations after winning a team-record 30 medals at the 2021 Summer Deaflympics² in Caxias Do Sul, Brazil, despite a COVID-19 cluster infection that saw Japanese athletes withdraw from the last few days of competition.

7. A Giant change?

Per an article last week from Evening Fuji — not always the most reliable of sources, but they seem to have their reporting in order here — the Yomiuri Giants may be changing their stance toward the posting system as they aim to maintain ability to sign the country’s top players.

While Yomiuri had been resistant to posting players until they were eligible for overseas free agency — at least until December 2020, when the team unsuccessfully attempted to post pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano — the club is now willing to let players leave for the majors earlier if they achieve targets such as the most wins, lowest ERA or most home runs in the league over consecutive seasons and contribute to good results for the team.

Those standards may be too lofty, but according to Fuji the shift in tone was enough to get scouts from the St. Louis Cardinals and (my) Philadelphia Phillies to check out infielder Kazuma Okamoto and pitcher Shosei Togo, both of whom have expressed a desire to go overseas.

Other than Sugano, the Giants have only posted one more player: Pitcher Shun Yamaguchi, who joined the Toronto Blue Jays in December 2019 for $6.35 million.

Whether Yomiuri are serious about letting some players go — or if they’re giving lip service to future signings — remains to be seen.

8. Age ain’t nothing but a number

“More elder abuse, please!” is perhaps the feedback I get most frequently³ on The Hachie, and I am happy to inform my dear readers that today is your day.

Friday marked the start of the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships in Ulsan, South Korea, with Japan cruising to a 3-0 Group 2 win over Luxembourg.

Among the victories was 15-year-old phenom Miwa Harimoto straight up wrecking Ni Xia Lian, the Chinese-born Luxembourgian who is still competing at the age of 60.

Ni hung on for a narrow 12-10 defeat in the first set before losing the next two by 11-3 and 11-8 margins, but was certainly gracious in her defeat to Harimoto, who beat out Olympic medalist Mima Ito for a place in Japan’s Paris 2024 squad.

Sadly as I wrap this newsletter up, the only video that’s up is geo-restricted to Japan only, but hopefully I can come back and edit the web version over the weekend — and in the meantime, here’s her All Japan Championships defeat to Hina Hayata, who is also Paris-bound:

Meanwhile, 51-year-old ski jumper Noriaki Kasai pulled off a 106-meter jump to get through the prelims of this weekend’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup event in Sapporo, becoming the competition’s oldest participant in the process.

I am pretty sure my knees, ankles and spine would instantly turn into powder were I to attempt that at my age (or even half my age, for that matter), so I am duly impressed.

1. I find this infinitely more relatable than the company’s 2024 release presentation, because hell if I’m getting my card gaming news from people in suits. If you aren’t learning the rules from a chubby guy in a hoodie, it just isn’t worth it, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

2. Held in 2022, naturally.

3. But seriously, do leave a comment and let me know what sort of stuff you’d like to see more of on here!