American football was introduced to Japan in the 1930s and has grown into one of the most popular sports in the country. Up to four foreign players are allowed per team with no more than two on the field at a time.
American football was introduced to Japan in the 1930s and has grown into one of the most popular sports in the country. Up to four foreign players are allowed per team with no more than two on the field at a time.
American football was introduced in the early 1930s, when Paul Rusch, a teacher and missionary from Kentucky, who came to Japan in 1925 to help rebuild following the 1923 earthquake, George Marshall, an athletic teacher at Tokyo based Rikkyo University, and two military attaches at the US embassy, Alexander George and Merritt Booth, helped to form the first football teams at three universities in Tokyo (Waseda, Meiji, Rikkyo). In November 1934, the first football game was played between an all-star team of the three Tokyo universities and a team of the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club consisting of Americans and Britons living in Japan. The Japanese college team won the game. In 1937, a game between college all-star teams from eastern and western Japan drew a crowd of about 25,000 spectators.
During World War II (1939–1945), American football in Japan came to a halt. However, soon after the war, football in Japan resumed. Rusch, who had earlier left Japan for the war, returned in 1945. During the following years, high school and junior high school teams were formed.
The 1970s saw American college football teams visiting Japan. [1] In 1971, a Utah State University team led by coach Chuck Mills and future NFL quarterback Tony Adams played two exhibition matches against Japanese All-Star teams, winning by wide margins in both games. [2] Brigham Young University played two exhibition contests in 1977, also against Japanese All-Star teams, with the American side again winning handily both times. The Cougars returned to Japan the following season to play an official regular season game against UNLV; All-American quarterback Marc Wilson threw 3 touchdown passes to lead BYU to a 28-24 victory in front of a crowd of 27,500 at Yokohama Stadium. [3]
From 1977 to 1993, a regular season game between American college teams was played in Japan, initially sponsored by Mitsubishi and known as the Mirage Bowl. The name was changed to "Coca-Cola Classic" in 1986 to reflect the game's new corporate sponsor at that time. Grambling State University defeated Temple University 35-32 in the initial game, held at Korakuen Stadium, with Grambling quarterback Doug Williams being named MVP. The annual game was moved to the Tokyo Dome in 1988, with Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders rushing for 332 yards and 4 touchdowns for Oklahoma State University that year against Texas Tech University, thus finishing the season with NCAA single-season records of 2,628 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns. [4] Another record-breaking performance came in 1990, when David Klingler of the University of Houston passed for a single-game record 716 yards in a 62-45 victory over Arizona State University.
Today, more than 17,000 players participate in a national competition for about 400 teams. There are two college football leagues, the Kanto League with teams from eastern Japan and the Kansai League with teams from western Japan. Each league has different divisions. The Division I of the Kanto League has two Conferences (A and B). The champions of the two leagues battle for the college championship in the Koshien Bowl.
The highest level of American Football in Japan is the X-League, the league consisting of true company teams and club teams sponsored by companies. The company league was founded in 1981; since 1996, it has been called the X-League. Like the college leagues, the X-League has different divisions. The Division I has three regional divisions (East, Central, West). The two top teams of each division advance to the playoffs, called the Final 6. The championship game is called Japan X Bowl and is held in December. The X-League champion then plays against the college champion in the Rice Bowl for the Japanese national championship.
The X-League is the highest level of football in Japan. [5] In recent years, professionals from overseas have played in the X-League, including former NFL quarterback Devin Gardner. [6]
College football in Japan, often played at the club level, is made up of eight leagues, spanning all four islands. The East and West champions play in the annual Koshien Bowl in Nishinomiya.
The winners of the Japan X Bowl and Koshien Bowl play each other in the Rice Bowl.
Sports in Japan are a significant part of Japanese culture. Traditional sports, such as sumo and martial arts, as well as Western imports like baseball, association football, basketball and tennis are popular with both participants and spectators.
Douglas Lee Williams is an American football executive and former quarterback and coach. Williams is best known for his performance with the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos, making him the first black quarterback to both start and win a Super Bowl. He was named Super Bowl MVP after breaking two Super Bowl passing records: 340 yards total, and being the first to throw four touchdowns in a single quarter.
Sammy White is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 10 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL).
The X-League is the top-level professional gridiron football league in Japan. It was founded in 1971 as the Japan American Football League and organized the first X Bowl in 1987. The league changed its name to the X League in 1997. The league is divided into four divisions with promotion and relegation between them. Teams are split into different divisions or blocks, depending on the tier. There are two types of teams, one being a company team in which only employees of that particular sponsoring company may play, and the other being a club team for which anyone can try out.
The Koshien Bowl (甲子園ボウル) is the annual Japanese American college football national championship game, usually played in December at Koshien Stadium.
Kenneth Adams MacAfee II is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Noriaki Kinoshita, born December 29, 1982) is a Japanese football wide receiver who currently plays for the Obic Seagulls of the X-League. He was signed by the Amsterdam Admirals in 2005. He played college football for the Ritsumeikan Panthers.
Graham Stanton Harrell is an American football coach and former quarterback who most recently was the offensive coordinator for the Purdue Boilermakers. He played college football for Texas Tech Red Raiders from 2004 to 2008. He played in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) from 2009 to 2013, with his longest tenure as a player with the Green Bay Packers. He served as the offensive coordinator of the North Texas Mean Green (2016–2018), USC Trojans (2019–2021) and the West Virginia Mountaineers (2022).
The Coca-Cola Classic was a regular season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football game played in Tokyo, Japan, from 1977 to 1993. It was originally sponsored by Mitsubishi and known as the Mirage Bowl, and later sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company and renamed for the soft drink Coca-Cola Classic. Because the game was merely a re-location of a late regular season game, it was not considered a traditional postseason bowl game.
Colby Cameron is an American professional football quarterback who played for the Fujitsu Frontiers of the X-League. He played college football at Louisiana Tech University.
Paul Frederick Rusch was a lay missionary of the Anglican Church in Japan.
The 2015 Japan college football season, play of college football in Japan organized by the Japan American Football Association (JAFA) at the Division I level, began on August 28, 2015, with the regular season ending December 13, 2015 with the 2015 Koshien Bowl. The winner will advance to the Rice Bowl to play the champion of the X-League.
The Kantoh Collegiate American Football Association is an American college football league made up of colleges and universities in the Kanto region of Japan.
The Tokyo Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played in December in Tokyo, Japan. The game matches up the 2nd place team from the Kansai Collegiate American Football League and the 2nd place team from the Kantoh Collegiate American Football Association.
The Kansai Kaisers football program represents Kansai University in college football. Kansai is a member of the Kansai Collegiate American Football League (KCAFL).
Tederal Duralle White is an American football coach and former quarterback. Before coaching, White played for the Frankfurt Galaxy and Barcelona Dragons as part of NFL Europe in the early 2000s. From 2003 to 2005, White was the backup quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. With both leagues, White had a combined total of 2,568 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.
The 1974 Grambling Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1974 NCAA Division II football season. In its 32nd season under head coach Eddie Robinson, Grambling compiled an 11–1 record, tied for the SWAC championship, defeated South Carolina State in the Pelican Bowl, and outscored opponents by a total of 308 to 120. The team was recognized as the 1974 black college football national co-champion and was ranked No. 7 by the Associated Press in the final small college rankings.
The 1975 Grambling Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1975 NCAA Division II football season. In its 33rd season under head coach Eddie Robinson, Grambling compiled a 10–2 record, initially tied for the SWAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 324 to 153 on the field. The team was recognized as the 1975 black college football national co-champion and was ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press and No. 2 by the United Press International in the final 1975 NCAA Division II football rankings.
The 1976 Grambling Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1976 NCAA Division II football season. In its 34th season under head coach Eddie Robinson, Grambling State compiled an 8–4 record, finished in second place in the SWAC, and outscored opponents by a total of 313 to 202.
Benjamin Quran Dupree is an American football player who played for the Panasonic Impulse in Japan's X-League. Dupree played college football for NCAA Division I FCS' Citadel Bulldogs after being awarded Pennsylvania Class AAA player of the year as a senior in high school at Susquehanna Township. Standing at only 5'8", Dupree was the shortest quarterback in all of NCAA Division I college football during his time at Citadel.
