Rice Bowl

For the Japanese rice dish, see Donburi. For the term used for highly productive agricultural areas, see Breadbasket.

Rice Bowl
Japan Championship Rice Bowl presented by Prudential
Stadium	Tokyo Dome
Location	Tokyo, Japan
Previous stadiums	National Stadium (1984-1990)
Operated	1948-present
Conference tie-ins	X-League
Sponsors
Prudential Financial, Japan American Football Association
2022 matchup
Panasonic Impulse, Fujitsu Frontiers

The Japan Championship Rice Bowl is an annual American football national championship game held in Japan every January 3 that determines the champion of the X-League. The game was originally a collegiate all-star game until 1983. From 1984 to 2021, the game matched the champions of the Japan X Bowl with the college Koshien Bowl winners. However, after lopsided victories to the professional teams, discussions took place over whether this was a reasonable contest, ^[1] and from 2022 the contest was changed so that it was between the two top professional teams. The game can draw over 30,000 spectators.

Current champions

The current 2025 champions are the Panasonic Impulse. They have played against the Fujitsu Frontiers in each of the Rice Bowl games since 2022, however the Frontiers had won each of the previous three games. ^[2]

National Championship Era

X-League vs College Era Results

Date	Game	College Team	Score	X-League	Stadium	Attendance
January 3, 1984	37	Kyoto	29-28	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1985	38	Nihon	53-21	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1986	39	Kwansei Gakuin	42-45	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1987	40	Kyoto	35-34	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1988	41	Kyoto	42-8	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1989	42	Nihon	47-7	Renown Rovers	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1990	43	Nihon	42-14	Asahi Beer Silver Star	National Stadium	—
January 3, 1991	44	Nihon	35-13	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1992	45	Kwansei Gakuin	6-28	Onward Oaks	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1993	46	Kyoto	20-29	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1994	47	Kwansei Gakuin	23-28	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1995	48	Ritsumeikan	14-16	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1996	49	Kyoto	35-21	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1997	50	Kyoto	16-19	Recruit Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1998	51	Hosei	0-39	Kashima Deers	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 1999	52	Ritsumeikan	16-30	Recruit Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2000	53	Kwansei Gakuin	17-33	Asahi Beer Silver Star	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2001	54	Hosei	13-52	Asahi Soft Drink Challengers	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2002	55	Kwansei Gakuin	30-27	Asahi Soft Drink Challengers	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2003	56	Ritsumeikan	36-13	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2004	57	Ritsumeikan	28-16	Onward Oaks	Tokyo Dome	—
January 3, 2005	58	Ritsumeikan	7-26	Matsushita Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	28,000
January 3, 2006	59	Hosei	17-47	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	28,041
January 3, 2007	60	Hosei	29-30	Onward Skylarks	Tokyo Dome	32,598
January 3, 2008	61	Kwansei Gakuin	38-52	Panasonic Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	34,487
January 3, 2009	62	Ritsumeikan	17-13	Panasonic Electric Works Impulse	Tokyo Dome	34,655
January 3, 2010	63	Kansai	16-19	Kashima Deers	Tokyo Dome	35,742
January 3, 2011	64	Ritsumeikan	0-24	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	35,750
January 3, 2012	65	Kwansei Gakuin	28-38	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	25,059
January 3, 2013	66	Kwansei Gakuin	15-21	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	27,371
January 3, 2014	67	Kwansei Gakuin	16-34	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome	29,564
January 3, 2015	68	Kwansei Gakuin	24-33	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome	30,361
January 3, 2016	69	Ritsumeikan	19-22	Panasonic Impulse	Tokyo Dome	31,345
January 3, 2017	70	Kwansei Gakuin	13-30	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome	33,521
January 3, 2018	71	Nihon	9-37	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome	34,500
January 3, 2019	72	Kwansei Gakuin	17-52	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome	33,242
January 3, 2020	73	Kwansei Gakuin	14-38	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome	31,345
January 3, 2021	74	Kwansei Gakuin	18-35	Obic Seagulls	Tokyo Dome

^[3]

X-League Championship Era

Date	Game	Team	Score	Team	Stadium	Attendance
January 3, 2022	75	Panasonic Impulse	18–24	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome
January 3, 2023	76	Panasonic Impulse	21–29	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome
January 3, 2024	77	Panasonic Impulse	10–16	Fujitsu Frontiers	Tokyo Dome
January 3, 2025	78	Fujitsu Frontiers	27–34	Panasonic Impulse	Tokyo Dome	17,694

^[3]

Records of teams

College Teams

Team	Times Participated	Wins	Losses
Kwansei Gakuin University Fighters	14	1	13
Ritsumeikan University Panthers	8	3	5
Kyoto University Gangsters	6	4	2
Nihon University Phoenix	5	4	1
Hosei University Orange	4	0	4
Kansai University Kaisers	1	0	1

^[3]

X-League teams

Team	Times Participated	Wins	Losses
Panasonic Impulse	11	5	6
Obic Seagulls	9	8	1
Fujitsu Frontiers	9	8	1
Renown Rovers	6	1	5
Asahi Beer Silver Star	4	3	1
Onward Skylarks	3	2	1
Lixil Deers	2	2	0
Asahi Soft Drink Challengers	2	1	1

^[3]

References

1. Harris, Thalia (2020-10-05). "The Rice Bowl: Japan's Unbalanced American Football Playoffs". Unseen Japan. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
2. "American football: Panasonic overcomes Fujitsu to claim Rice Bowl". Japan Wire by KYODO NEWS. 2025-01-03. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
3. "Rice Bowl Records". Rice Bowl. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2015.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)