What sports are Indians Playing in and around Tokyo : Cricket Boom In Japan !

These are the best years to be in Japan if you love playing cricket since Japan is witnessing a Cricket boom right now.

Those who are part of this sports already in Japan may know about the content of this post. But here, the attempt is, to make the information available/accessible for friends who are not in loop and might want to get started resuming this game in Japan.

Some quick facts :

Players are growing :

• 200 teams in Japan. Yes you read it right 🙂
• 15, 000 participants in Japan

(Senior Teams: 100, University team Teams: 30 and Junior Teams:70)

Japan is trying its hand in Cricket and investing in cricket grounds :

•  Many young and grownup Japanese are trying their hands with cricket.
• Japan is taking this as an opportunity to increase diversity and also mingle with international community.
• Also since it is near to baseball, its easy to pickup.
• Formal Japan Cricket Association(JCA) created. They have a dedicated Facebook page here. They are affiliated with International Cricket Council(ICC).
• Last month, first formal International Cricket Ground built in Tochigi Sano Tanuma. Even Indian Embassy participated in the friendly matches (India vs Pakistan Friendly Match). JCA Leage matches and National matches are already being organized. Two games can be played simultaneously.

This ground is a reclaimed ground in  an old school in Tochigi.

location is here :

Other grounds !

• Apart from the newly opened ground there are 4 grounds near to this International Ground which were quite popular and lot of leather ball leagues and tennis ball tournament like SBI cup also held there. One more famous ground is near Fuji.
• Nearer to Indian Community in Edogawa, there is a cricket ground in Koiwa, but the pitch is not maintained to a level where one can play with leather ball.

– Also there is a search on to have a Cricket Ground near Seishincho/Nishikasai. For kids there is one ground where kids can play cricket (with Tennis ball only).

Cricket In Japanese media :

– One of the Japanese player is garnering media interest. His Story Of  Kimura is being covered by Japanese TV a lot recently. He was a former baseball player and want to break into IPL. He has appeared on few of the famous Japan Variety shows where shared his experience of playing cricket as a professional player.

If more interested in Kimura`s story, on what triggered this move from baseball to Cricket !

Following two videos shows how Cricket is being promoted to citizens of Japan.

(On TV, explaining cricket, very low quality video and sound, but you get the idea 🙂 )

3 Major Indian Cricket Clubs in Japan :

Indian Cricket Clubs in Tokyo

• There are three active clubs in Tokyo when it comes to leather ball cricket. Except for Nov to March, mostly it`s a Cricket season in Japan.
  • TCC (Tigers Cricket Club), the oldest with longest run in Japan,
  • MIB (Men In Blue) is an older and experienced club,
  • Tokyo Falcons is a newer but also very promising one (3 years)

TCC (Tigers Cricket club)

• Facebook Page of TCC is here.  They define themselves as “Formed on the 11th Day of August 2007, Tigers Cricket Club (TCC), Japan aims at building a friendly social atmosphere whilst playing enjoyable yet competitive cricket and above all winning.”
• This club is the organizer of SBI cup in Japan. They do this along with sponsors and JCA.
• This is the team who play in all 3 Divisions of JCA leagues.

MIB (Men in Blue)

• Facebook Page of MIB is here. MIB won 2016, 2017 & 2018 East Kanto Club.
• 3 years consecutive win in T20 East Kanto Club is a commendable achievement for the club.
• Also won SBI under the banner Orion Shuzai and more.
• Additionally Club is proud of their MIB Junior Team who won recent JCA tournament.

(Last 3 points updated. Thanks to MIB team inputs on 2018/11/7, more media to be updated as It will be made available to us)

TOKYO FALCONS

• Facebook Page of Tokyo Falcons is here.
• Also, they have a website which shows their Senior XI and Junior X1 Team. Based on the inputs, Tokyo Falcons recently won JCA League Div 2 Finals without losing even single match in the tournament and is one of the strongest team in leagues now.
• JCA summarizing Div 2 and div 3 tournament & acknowledges Tokyo Falcons “Final Glory” and says “they (both Tokyo Falcons & MIB) will likely be rewarded with a place in Division One next year, pending confirmation by the league committee. (Update 11/9, Tokyo Falcons posted on their FB page)
• Tokyo Falcon players topped in almost Of areas of cricket in the tournament making them one of the promising clubs of Japan.

Clubs from other Countries also exist :

• Apart from India clubs, there are clubs from other countries too like Japan, Britain, Aus, New Z, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal to name few.
• It goes unsaid that there are numerous other Indian teams too who play regularly with tennis ball
• SBI Cup every year invites around 20 to 25 teams which is like 200 to 250 players which is one of the major events in tennis cricket.

A day With a Team when it’s a cricket match day :

• Players living in Seishincho vicinity gather at around 6:30 in the morning at pre-decided place. Normally two cars (one 6 seater or more) are enough to take the team to Cricket Ground. The logistics are decided in advance on Whatsapp
• Before they reach to ground, the team picks up the equipment required to setup the ground like Boundary Ropes, Stumps etc which is normally kept in a locker room near the ground.
• One of the team is responsible for setting up the ground and other team has winding up duty.
• Match is played between 10:00 am to 17:00, full 40 overs match with leather ball and kits (owned by club). 20 over matches can be half day.
• There is club joining entrance fees and also one has to pay per match participation like any other game in Japan.

Benefits :

• You can resume your old passion of cricket
• It`s an opportunity to meet new friends
• Give some exercise to your body
• Vent out your stress from work 🙂

If you are interested in joining any club, feel free to approach them on their Facebook pages. You will definitely find the kind of cricket as per your level.

Challenges:

• Since the main grounds are 1 to 2 hours away, distance & time can be a challenge for few
• Matches are mostly on Weekends (Sat or Sun), hence one need to plan Family Time better

Main Cricket Grounds in Japan

Plan to add more about Cricket as the season approaches

Please feel to share more inputs on the post, if you feel it will bring more information related to this fame in Japan.

Explore other sports Indians are playing in Japan by clicking this link.

最後に、「クリケット？なんじゃこれや？」の方へ