B. League President talks about Filipino Cagers playing in Japan

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 11/28, 10:19 a.m.) – B.League chairman Shinji Shimada took some time off from his busy schedule to talk to Philstar.com about this 2021-22 season that has seen the influx of Filipino basketball players in Japan’s professional basketball league. 

“Due to the spread of COVID-19, we were at the mercy of the spread of the virus and the restrictions,” bared Shimada. “In terms of revenue and expenditure, it was a very interesting situation. We have learned so much from last year.”

“We wanted to build on the fans’ enthusiasm for basketball and the national team’s exposure due to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, so we made a big push for the B. League’s innovations this season.”

Shimada, who went to study English at a school in Baguio, was well aware of the popularity of basketball in the Philippines.

“Since basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines, the ‘Asian Players Quota’ was established to capture the basketball enthusiasm in Asia, especially in the Philippines, and to further develop the game, we separated it from the general foreign players window,” explained Shimada.

The B. League is all for the growth of basketball in Japan, where football, baseball and sumo wrestling are the most popular sports. 

The league came up with the Asian Players Quota, wherein hoopsters from the region come in as imports. The Asian imports, however, are separate from their American or European counterparts.

The Filipino contingent includes Thirdy Ravena (San-en Neophoenix), Ray Parks (Nagoya Diamond Dolphins), Kiefer Ravena (Shiga Lakestars), Kobe Paras (Niigata Albirex BB), Dwight Ramos (Toyama Grouses), Matthew Aquino (Shinshu Brave Warriors) and Javi Gomez de Liano (Ibaraki Robots), who play in Division I; while Juan Gomez de Liano (Earthfriends Tokyo Z) and Kemark Carino (Aomori Wat’s) ply their trade in Division II.

Other Asian players include Korean Yang Jae-min (Shinshu Brave Warriors), Chinese cagers Wang Weijia (Akita Northern Happinets) and Liu Jin (Nishinomiya Storks), Indonesian forward Brandon Jawato (Utsunomiya Brex), and Taiwanese swingman Lin Chih Wei.

Shimada and the league aren’t worried about the Asian imports stealing thunder from the homegrown players. Rather, he believes their professionalism — not to mention talent — will expose the Japanese to higher-level basketball.

“Once Japanese players have absorbed the experience and skills of the foreign players, which is like exposure to international competition, it will help improve their performance. I believe the experience of learning skills from foreign players will help.”

Japan has exported many of its athletes to foreign shores such as baseball stars such as Ichiro Suzuki, Hideo Nomo, Hideki Matsui, and current Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani; soccer idols such as Takumi Minamino, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Maya Yoshida; and tennis star Naomi Osaka, to name but a very few.

Now, they are hoping that basketball — the fastest growing sport in Japan — will also produce the same in several years’ time.
 
“We succeeded in attracting some of the top young players in the Philippines,” pointed out the B. League president. “There are high expectations for Asian players. Right now, it is only the Philippines through Tap Digital Media Services that is broadcasting the games outside Japan. We have tapped into Filipinos living in Japan as well as the market in the Philippines to give us a boost. Our YouTube channel has more viewers from all over the world.”

“Our philosophy is to energize Japanese basketball. We have enhanced our social media content, which is commonly used by many people. We have used initiatives such as videos and photos of players to create additional attention. This is to engage fans even more to increase media exposure.”

While the world knows all about Japanese cuisine, manga and anime, wrestling, calligraphy, its distinctive gardens and flower arranging, and its high technology, Shimada believes that in time, the country will also be known for its brand of basketball.

Summed up the league president, “We are still a long way from the impact of soccer and baseball, but in time, Japanese basketball and the Japan B. League will get there.”