When it comes to hockey, Japan is not a nation that immediately springs to mind. Football, baseball and badminton are all sports in which Japan does well on the global stage, and Sumo wrestling is of course an iconic Japanese sporting activity. But over the past decade, Japanese hockey, and its women's team in particular, have been making in-roads onto the international hockey scene.
The Japanese women's team first began to make headway at the start of the century. Their first foray into the Olympics in 2004 earned them an eighth place finish, and they have qualified for all subsequent Games. The team has a longer history in the World Cup; they came sixth in the 1978 World Cup and seventh in 1981. This was followed by a barren spell with only one appearance in 1990, when they finished 11th. Since 2002, Japan has appeared in every World Cup, finishing in tenth, fifth and eleventh place.
Gold in the Asia Cup in 2007 and appearances in the Champions Trophy in 2007, 2008 and 2012, mean that Japan is finding itself far more at home on the international stage.
With more than 30,000 people regularly playing hockey in the Far Eastern country, the national hockey federation also oversees a thriving domestic calendar, with a well-supported youth structure and a popular Master's competition framework.
The Cherry Blossoms are also creating hockey legends. One of the best known players at the 2012 Olympic Games was Akemi Kato. At 40-years-old, she was the oldest participant at the hockey tournament in London. Although she is unlikely to be gracing the stage in The Hague, her style of play – collecting the ball in her own defensive circle and running at the opposition to turn defence into attack – earned her and her team respect, a lot of fans, and two victories at the London Games.
