Basketball is a globally popular sport played by 450 million people. In this ”GlobasketUntied” article series, Mie Kajikawa, Founder of Next Big Pivot and Advisor to the FIBA Foundation (2023-2027), visits Embassies of basketball powerhouses in Japan to explore the role of basketball in each country.
Through the interviews, GlobasketUnited learns about popularity and potential of the power of basketball for good from the following four perspectives.
1st Quarter : Popularity of Basketball
2nd Quarter : Sports Policy
3rd Quarter : Power of Basketball for Social Good
4th Quarter : Views on Basketball in Japan
Accessibility and Growth: How America’s Community Shaped the Basketball Culture
Following the first half of the interview of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, we explore the U.S., the birthplace of basketball, and its pivotal role in shaping the global basketball phenomenon.
The U.S. has not only popularized this sport but also created a robust system that nurtures both players and communities. Basketball is deeply embedded in American culture, where accessibility and community involvement are key to its widespread appeal.
Mr. Adam Gallagher, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer, and Mr. Nursultan Eldosov, a Political Affairs expert with personal ties to basketball, discussed the sport’s accessibility, the multi-sport mindset in American youth sports, and the impact of Title IX on women’s sports in the part of First Half.
(Read First Half)
3rd Quarter: Power of Basketball for Social Good
ーーー Now we move onto the important question for the third quarter about your perspectives on “basketball for good.” You’re familiar with basketball and I assume you’ve heard of some stories about basketball for change and about basketball impacted people’s lives, but I would like to ask a special question for you.
As basketball was born in US, the movemnet of World Basketball Day started in your country – at NYU and then it was adopted by UN New York Headquarter. How would you feel about this?
Mr. Gallagher： Definitely. Well, I’ll just speak from the Embassy perspective.
We are very proud World Basketball Day was started in the U.S.
Basketball is such an American pastime and it’s been great to share it with the world and it’s been really helpful. In fact, also in Japan, we have collaborated with Ryuku Kings for some occasions to bring about community engagement. We often use basketball and others sports to make people-to-people connections, and World Basketball Day is another great opportunity to build those bridges. .
Mr. Eldosov：My example that came to mind is more local so more in the United States. I grew up in Cleveland and the community there is diverse. We have many immigrants from around the world and our high school team when my brother played covered by the local newspaper and they call it “the United Nations team.”
There were refugees from the 1990s during the Balkan conflict, and there were students from Chile and so it was a kind of what is it called an international team, but it was an American team.
The team brought the community together. And a lot of times whether it be the United States or Japan sometimes the folks who move to the country as an immigrant have a harder time.
But I think sports in this case, specifically basketball, allowed for that connection to be made so that you felt as one community. When a three-point shot is being made to win the game, it doesn’t matter if the person was born in America or not. They’re part of our team.
So that kind of message gives us opportunities to look different, we may be from different parts around the world or we were born in different parts of the world, but we’re all here together. So I think that kind of local effect is something that comes to mind on this topic.
ーーー That’s a great story.
4th Quarter : Views on Basketball in Japan
ーーー Let’s move on to the fourth and final part of this interview. We’d like to hear your thoughts on Japanese basketball. Could you share your perspectives? You’re welcome to discuss the national team, grassroots basketball culture, or any other aspects that come to your mind.
Mr. Eldosov：Sure. I think, for me, because I’ve been to watch the games of Albark Tokyo and Yokohama team, what I noticed was that people come there with their family. It wasn’t just like one or two people. It seems like people come in bigger groups and I noticed that there are so many teams in B League, a lot more than I expected and I know there are different rules.
I think there’s no more than two or three foreign players allowed per team and so they usually pick all Americans. I know that some of the players are former NBA players.
So that was kind of interesting because then as an American, when I go to regardless of which game I went, there was an American player to cheer for. At almost every single game, that was interesting.
And then there is Olympics; the fact that the Japanese national team was able to make it to the Olympic.I think will have a big impact, because people are used to the Olympics without Japanese national team for long.
Hopefully it will help with the development and in the popularity of basketball here in Japan. It reminds me of our US soccer team in the 1990s. With World Cups and kind of the international competitions that sparked the interest for girls and boys to play soccer.
So maybe it’ll be something similar – with more players, more Japanese players play in the NBA. I think that could be another way of connecting them and hopefully it’ll incentivize. Let’s say universities to recruit Japanese players because then your market expands into Asia. Like Tominaga in the University of Nebraska, as he has sparked interests all over Japan.
Oh, MOFA every year hosts a soccer tournament for all the different Embassies. Last two years, Adam and I, we’ve had a US team participate against other Embassies. And in Chiba, they have the National Soccer Federation training program. So we played there. Maybe MOFA can also host a basketball tournament!
Mr. Gallagher：It’s just been very exciting to see how enthusiastic people get for basketball here. So interesting, absolutely.
I arrived in Japan in the summer of 2023 during the World Championship. I walked by at television, the Japanese basketball team was playing, and it was fun to see so many people watching. You could really see that there’s the enthusiasm here in Japan. Definitely.
ーーー The popularity of basketball has definitely grown. In fact, attendance at B-League games has increased by about 40% after FIBA 2023 World Cup. There used to be many empty seats, but now it’s really hard to find one! Thank you so much for your time today, and for sharing your thoughts.
Mr. Gallagher：We’re really glad that you’re doing this project and it really aligns with what we’re trying to do at the Embassy where oftentimes trying to use different elements of culture whether it be music or arts or in this case sports forge people to connect.
So actually your event where you’re mingling diplomats from different Embassies is really, really cool, and that’s something that we’d love to be a part of in the future. So thank you so much.
