Japan men's national volleyball team

Japan
Nickname(s)	RYUJIN NIPPON
Association	Japan Volleyball Association
Confederation	AVC
Head coach	Yuichi Nakagaichi
FIVB ranking	10 (as of October 2019)
Uniforms
Summer Olympics
Appearances	8 (First in 1964)
Best result	(1972)
World Championship
Appearances	13 (First in 1960)
Best result	(1970, 1974)
	http://www.jva.or.jp/en/
Olympic Games
World Championship
World Cup
World Grand Champions Cup
Asian Championship
Asian Games
Asian Cup
Goodwill Games

The Japan men's national volleyball team represents Japan in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches. Japan won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, followed by silver at Mexico 1968 and a gold at Munich 1972. The years after this have been less successful. Japan missed three successive Olympic Games before returning at Beijing 2008, where they failed to win a match. Japan then failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games and also missed Rio 2016 after finishing seventh at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo. They also failed to qualify for the 2014 FIVB World Championship the first edition they had missed in 54 years. They had previously won FIVB World Championship bronze medals in 1970 and 1974. Japan silver medalists at the 1969 and 1977 World Cup. Japan has been less successful in the World League era. The team has won the Asian Championships nine times and the Asian Games eight times.

Results

Japan national team fans in World Championship 2010

Olympic Games

1964 – Bronze Medal
1968 – Silver Medal
1972 – Gold Medal
1976 – 4th place
1980 – Did not participate due to US-led boycott
1984 – 7th place
1988 – 10th place
1992 – 6th place
1996 – Did not qualify
2000 – Did not qualify
2004 – Did not qualify
2008 – 11th place
2012 – Did not qualify
2016 – Did not qualify
2020 – Qualified

World Championship

1949 – Did not participate
1952 – Did not participate
1956 – Did not participate
1960 – 8th place
1962 – 5th place
1966 – 5th place
1970 – 3rd place
1974 – 3rd place
1978 – 11th place
1982 – 4th place
1986 – 10th place
1990 – 11th place
1994 – 9th place
1998 – 15th place
2002 – 9th place
2006 – 8th place
2010 – 13th place
2014 – Did not qualify
2018 – 17th place

World Cup

1965 — 4th place
1969 — 2nd place
1977 — 2nd place
1981 — 6th place
1985 — 6th place
1989 — 6th place
1991 — 4th place
1995 — 5th place
1999 — 10th place
2003 — 9th place
2007 — 9th place
2011 — 10th place
2015 — 6th place
2019 — 4th place

World Grand Champions Cup

1993 — 4th place
1997 — 5th place
2001 — 5th place
2005 — 4th place
2009 — 3rd place
2013 — 6th place
2017 — 6th place

World League

1990 — 6th place
1991 — 7th place
1992 — 10th place
1993 — 6th place
1994 — 7th place
1995 — 8th place
1996 — 9th place
1997 — 12th place
1998 — did not participate
1999 — did not participate
2000 — did not participate
2001 — 9th place
2002 — 13th place
2003 — 13th place
2004 — 10th place
2005 — 10th place
2006 — 13th place
2007 — 13th place
2008 — 6th place
2009 — 15th place
2010 — did not qualify
2011 — 15th place
2012 — 15th place
2013 — 18th place
2014 — 19th place
2015 — 13th place
2016 — 24th place
2017 — 14th place

Nations League

2018 — 12th place
2019 — 10th place

Asian Games

1958 — 1st place
1962 — 1st place
1966 — 1st place
1970 — 1st place
1974 — 1st place
1978 — 2nd place
1982 — 1st place
1986 — 4th place
1990 — 3rd place
1994 — 1st place
1998 — 4th place
2002 — 3rd place
2006 — 5th place
2010 — 1st place
2014 — 2nd place
2018 — 5th place

Goodwill Games

1986 — 3rd place
1990 — did not participate

Squads

1998 World Championship — 16th place
Kentaro Asahi, Nobutaka Hirano, Yoichi Kato, Masayoshi Manabe, Katsuyuki Minami, Norihiko Miyazaki, Yuichi Nakagaichi, Takashi Narita, Koichi Nishimura, Masaji Ogino, Hideyuki Otake, and Minoru Takeuchi. Head Coach: Futoshi Teramawari.
2002 World Championship — 9th place (tied)
Yuta Abe, Nobuyoshi Hosokawa, Nobuhiro Ito, Hiroyuki Kai, Yoichi Kato (c), Hiroaki Kawaura, Takeshi Kitajima, Atsushi Kobayashi, Ryu Morishige, Katsutoshi Tsumagari, Makoto Yamaguchi, and Takahiro Yamamoto. Head Coach: Mikiyasu Tanaka.
2003 FIVB World Cup — 9th place
Yuta Abe, Nobuyoshi Hosokawa, Nobuhiro Ito, Atsushi Kobayashi, Yoichi Kato (c), Takehiro Kihara, Akira Koshiya, Ryu Morishige, Kenji Onoue, Katsutoshi Tsumagari, Takahiro Yamamoto, and Daisuke Usami. Head Coach: Mikiyasu Tanaka.
2005 World Grand Champions Cup — 4th place
Hiroyuki Kai, Kazuma Kishimoto, Masaji Ogino (c), Katsuyuki Minami, Kota Yamamura, Rio Matsunaga, Kyohei Shibata, Katsutoshi Tsumagari, Yu Koshikawa, and Kosuke Tomonaga. Head Coach: Tatsuya Ueta.
2006 FIVB World League — 13th place
Yuta Abe, Shinya Chiba, Yusuke Ishijima, Yu Koshikawa, Keisuke Kurihara, Akira Masuno, Yoshihiko Matsumoto, Ryuji Naohiro, Masaji Ogino, Kenji Onoue, Nobuharu Saito, Yoshifumi Suzuki, Yohei Takasugi, Osamu Tanabe, Kosuke Tomonaga, Katsutoshi Tsumagari, Takahiro Yamamoto, and Kota Yamamura. Head Coach: Tatsuya Ueta.
2008 Summer Olympics — 11th place
Nobuharu Saito, Daisuke Usami, Takahiro Yamamoto, Masaji Ogino, Yoshihiko Matsumoto, Kota Yamamura, Kunihiro Shimizu, Tatsuya Fukuzawa, Katsutoshi Tsumagari, Yusuke Ishijima, Yu Koshikawa, and Kosuke Tomonaga. Head Coach: Tatsuya Ueta.

Team

Current squad

The following is the Japanese roster in the 2019 Men's Nations League.^[1]

Head coach: Yuichi Nakagaichi

No.	Name	Date of birth	Height	Weight	Spike	Block	2020-21 club
1	Issei Otake	3 December 1995	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	98 kg (216 lb)	345 cm (136 in)	327 cm (129 in)	Panasonic Panthers
2	Hideomi Fukatsu	1 June 1990	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	70 kg (150 lb)	325 cm (128 in)	305 cm (120 in)	Panasonic Panthers
3	Naonobu Fujii	5 January 1992	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	78 kg (172 lb)	312 cm (123 in)	297 cm (117 in)	Toray Arrows
4	Akihiro Fukatsu	23 July 1987	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	78 kg (172 lb)	325 cm (128 in)	305 cm (120 in)	JT Thunders
5	Tatsuya Fukuzawa	1 July 1986	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)	88 kg (194 lb)	355 cm (140 in)	330 cm (130 in)	Paris Volley
6	Akihiro Yamauchi	30 November 1993	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	350 cm (140 in)	335 cm (132 in)	Panasonic Panthers
7	Takashi Dekita	13 August 1991	2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)	94 kg (207 lb)	346 cm (136 in)	331 cm (130 in)	Osaka Blazers Sakai
8	Masahiro Yanagida (C)	6 July 1992	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	79 kg (174 lb)	335 cm (132 in)	301 cm (119 in)	Suntory Sunbirds
9	Satoshi Ide	16 January 1992	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)	74 kg (163 lb)	303 cm (119 in)	290 cm (110 in)	Suntory Sunbirds
10	Taichiro Koga	4 October 1989	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)	70 kg (150 lb)	292 cm (115 in)	277 cm (109 in)	FC Tokyo
11	Yuji Nishida	30 January 2000	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	350 cm (140 in)	335 cm (132 in)	JTEKT Stings
12	Masahiro Sekita	20 November 1993	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)	73 kg (161 lb)rg	331 cm (130 in)	296 cm (117 in)	Osaka Blazers Sakai
13	Naoya Takano	30 April 1993	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	78 kg (172 lb)	338 cm (133 in)	316 cm (124 in)	Osaka Blazers Sakai
14	Yūki Ishikawa	11 December 1995	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	84 kg (185 lb)	351 cm (138 in)	327 cm (129 in)	Power Volley Milano
15	Haku Ri	27 December 1990	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	82 kg (181 lb)	344 cm (135 in)	330 cm (130 in)	Toray Arrows
16	Kentaro Takahashi	8 February 1995	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	103 kg (227 lb)	355 cm (140 in)	338 cm (133 in)	Toray Arrows
17	Tsubasa Hisahara	18 March 1995	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)	80 kg (180 lb)	339 cm (133 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Panasonic Panthers
18	Masashi Kuriyama	14 July 1988	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	350 cm (140 in)	335 cm (132 in)	Suntory Sunbirds
19	Hiroaki Asano	6 October 1990	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)	72 kg (159 lb)	311 cm (122 in)	295 cm (116 in)	JTEKT Stings
20	Taishi Onodera	27 February 1996	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	98 kg (216 lb)	346 cm (136 in)	323 cm (127 in)	JT Thunders
21	Kunihiro Shimizu	11 August 1986	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)	97 kg (214 lb)	348 cm (137 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Panasonic Panthers
22	Tomohiro Yamamoto	5 November 1994	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)	69 kg (152 lb)	301 cm (119 in)	299 cm (118 in)	Sakai Blazers
23	Yuki Higuchi	27 April 1996	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)	79 kg (174 lb)	345 cm (136 in)	320 cm (130 in)	Sakai Blazers
24	Jin Tsuzuki	28 December 1998	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	85 kg (187 lb)	345 cm (136 in)	320 cm (130 in)	JTEKT Stings

Coach history

List from 1965 until now:
Yasutaka Matsudaira (1965-1972)
Tsutomu Koyama (1973-1976)
Yūzo Nakamura (1977-1980)
Naohiro Ikeda (1980-1984)
Masaru Saito (1984-1986)
Tsutomu Koyama (1986-1988)
Masayuki Minami (1989-1990)
Seiji Oko (1991-1995)
Shinichiro Tsujiai (1996-1997)
Futoshi Teramawari (1997-2000)
Mikiyasu Tanaka (2001-2004)
Tatsuya Ueta (2005-2013)
Gary Sato (2013-2014)
Masashi Nambu (2014-2016)
Yuichi Nakagaichi (2017-)

Kit providers

The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Japan national volleyball team.

Period	Kit provider
2000–	Asics

Sponsorship

Primary sponsors include: main sponsors like Shiseido other sponsors: Japanet, Molten, All Nippon Airways, Suntory, JTEKT, Nisshin Steel, Nippon Life, Marudai, Mizuno, Meiji Seika, Descente, Mikasa and Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical.

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium

Stadium

Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and Yoyogi National Gymnasium Japan national team training and hosting venues.

Media

Japan's matches and friendlies are currently televised by Nippon TV, GAORA and NHK.

References

^ "Team Roster - Japan - FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2019". www.volleyball.world. Retrieved 2019-05-28.

[1] "Team Roster - Japan - FIVB Volleyball Nations League 2019". www.volleyball.world. Retrieved 2019-05-28.

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