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.
Football is among the most popular sports in Japan, together with baseball, tennis, golf, sumo, and combat sports. Its nationwide organization, the Japan Football Association, administers the professional football leagues, including J.League, which is considered by many the most successful football league in Asia. Japan is also the country with the most comprehensively developed football in Asia in both men and women as well as in both futsal and beach soccer.
South Korea has traditional sports of its own, as well as sports from different cultures and countries.
Women's baseball is played in several countries. The strongest and most organized women's baseball leagues are in the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, Hong Kong, and Canada. Those countries have national governing bodies that support girls' and women's baseball programs. Other countries/regions that currently have organized women's baseball are Germany, France, Netherlands, Croatia, India, South Korea, Venezuela, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, and Pakistan. There also is a handful of women playing baseball in Vietnam currently on the Fishanu team at Hanoi University and on the Hanoi Baseball Club.
The Netherlands women's national softball team is the national team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is governed by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation. It is a member nation of the Confederation of European Baseball and the International Baseball Federation.
The Japan women's national softball team is the national team of Japan in international softball competitions. It is governed by the Japan Softball Association. They are currently ranked #2 in the world by the International Softball Federation. In four Olympic Games, since 1996 until 2008, Japan has won one gold medal, a silver medal and a bronze medal. In the top four nations at the Olympics, Japan is the second most successful national team, following the United States, and beating out Australia and China with one silver medal. After winning the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Japanese national team was defeated by the United States team at the XII Women's Softball World Championship in Caracas, Venezuela.
The Chinese Taipei national baseball team is the national men's baseball team of Taiwan. It is governed by the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The team is ranked fourth in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The team is usually made up of professionals from Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball from the United States.
Association football and basketball are the most popular sports in Asia. Cricket is the third most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, badminton and table tennis among others. There are also some traditional sports that are popular in certain regions of Asia, such as the South Asian sports kabaddi and kho-kho, and sepak takraw in Southeast Asia. Top sporting nations/regions in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Women's Baseball World Cup is an international tournament in which national women's baseball teams from around the world compete. Through its 2012 edition, it was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation; following the 2013 merger of the IBAF with the International Softball Federation, subsequent tournaments are sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). In the nine times it has been held, the tournament has been won twice by the United States and seven consecutive times by Japan in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2024.
The Australian women's national baseball team, nicknamed the Emeralds, represents Australia in international women's baseball tournaments and competitions. The team is controlled by the Australian Baseball Federation, which is represented in the Baseball Confederation of Oceania (BCO). They are the only team in Oceania to be formally ranked by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and are the 3rd ranked women's baseball team in the world. The Emeralds have been in existence since 2001, when the first ever squad was selected from the 2001 National Women’s Championships, held in Sydney. They compete in the biennial IBAF Women’s Baseball World Cup.
J Sports is a group of four sports satellite TV channels in Japan produced and broadcast by Jupiter Sports. They are owned by J Sports Corporation (株式会社ジェイ・スポーツ)
The WBSC World Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in baseball, softball, and baseball5. The teams of the member nations of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), baseball's world governing body, are ranked based on their tournament results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of WBSC-recognized international tournaments. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance over the last four years, with major international tournaments awarded a higher weighting compared to minor international and continental tournaments.
The Women's Baseball World Series was an international tournament in which originally national women's baseball teams from around the world competed, before being overtaken by the Women's Baseball World Cup in 2004. It was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation.
The Philippines Women's National Softball Team, nicknamed the "Blu Girls", is the national team of Philippines. They are governed by the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines. They won a bronze medal in 1970 ISF Women's World Championship in Osaka, Japan and it was their first medal won in a World Championship.
New Zealand women's national softball team, nicknamed the White Sox, is the women's national softball team for New Zealand. The "White Sox" name is one of many national team nicknames (indirectly) related to the All Blacks as well as to the famous Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox baseball teams.
The WBSC Premier12 is the international baseball tournament organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), featuring the 12 highest-ranked national baseball teams in the world. The first tournament was held by Taiwan and Japan in November 2015. The second tournament, 2019 WBSC Premier12, was held in November 2019, and served as a qualifier for two teams for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The Pakistan women's national baseball team is the national team representing Pakistan in international women's baseball tournaments and competitions.
The Philippines women's national baseball team is the national team of the Philippines which represents the country in women's baseball. It is organized by the Philippine Amateur Baseball Association (PABA).
The Women's Baseball Asian Cup is the main competition for national teams of Asia in women's baseball.
1st (7 times, most recent in 2024 )
1st (3 times, most recent in 2023 )
