Major+Sports+in+Japan

Japanese Major Sports This Page is also created by: Trevor

__**// Soccer //**__ Soccer in Japan has become the second most attended sport in Japan. It is also the second most practiced sport among young children in school recess. The Japan Football Association was formed in 1921. The National Championship for this league is called the Emperor's Cup. More then 3000 teams participated in this prestige tournament. Japan has, in recent years, held many championship for soccer. In 2002, Japan was chosen as the co-host for the world cup. And actually Japan's soccer team was chosen to represent Asia in the 1998 World Cup in France!



__//**Baseball**//__ Baseball in Japan is the most popular sport to participate in. Also it is the most watched sport, even higher then soccer! Boys of all ages play this sport from what they primary school all the way to University ball. Spectators in Japan watch baseball by the millions for all leagues, local,professional,and international. Japan has great teams in all leagues but Japan's little league teams have won a total of six tournament championships! Now that is a lot. __//**History**//__ Baseball was first introduced to Japan in 1872. But this sport was not highly liked until WWll ended. The formation of the National Association was influenced by American players. Years after the sport was introduced, a Yankee All-Star team. Led by the one and only pitcher, Lou Gehrig. They visited Japan and played 17 games against the Japanese University All-Star team. They won all the games but the fans were thrilled and wanted more. It became a necessity in Japan. All this excitement led to the establishment of pro. baseball. The first team made were the Tokyo Giants. As you can see, the United Sates isn't the only country who love the game. __//** Professional **//__By 1950, professional baseball became the most watched sport in all of Japan. This association consists of two leagues, the Central and Pacific. There are 12 major teams all owned by railroad companies, newspaper organizations, and really any other rich business. These 12 teams play about 130 games a season! In the end, the teams from each league with the most wins, face off for the title. All these games are broadcast and are followed by millions of fans. __//**High School**//__ This is surprisingly just as popular as the pros. This league has a championship held 2 times a year in the Koshien Stadium in championship games. Not even the U.S. High School teams get barely over a couple hundred spectators. While in Japan millions of people come to observe these great teams in action. These players even get more attention then college teams. Wow I'm Hyogo. They are 10-day long tournaments with over 4000 different teams trying to get in and only 47 making it to the actuall going to have to say that baseball i very popular in Japan.

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