 Japanese are the best Asian athletes in America right now But why is that if their developmental systems are so good does that make? Japanese the best Asians oh man I already know the comment sections are going crazy But a lot of people know what you're talking about Andrew just look at the NBA right now They've got you to watch and I'll be leading the NBA in three-point percentage We're hot you more is like averaging almost 20 over this past month What one of the most talented MLB players of all time is Shohei Otani. Whoo Japanese Team did really well in the World Cup. You got Naoya in a way who's dominating band and weight boxing You also got Kay Nishikori who is one of the highest-paid tennis players in the world. I'm not gonna lie I didn't know that yeah, they got Naomi Osaka They got a bunch of other people that I think we could be forgetting but real quick guys We got to get into the history of basketball in Japan Then we're gonna talk about the sports systems Then we're just gonna talk about like why is Japan so good at certain things and just things about Japan in general Because a lot of people wonder like what makes Japan so unique and different from other countries in the world All right, so if you guys are excited about this video or you guys are interested in this topic Please make sure to hit that like button for us right now so the more people can see the video David give us the quick History of basketball in Japan and how it got so popular. Oh my goodness Andrew The history of basketball in Japan is very recent in 1988 the dream team comes and does an exhibition They got Jordan they got Barkley that sparks a guy Andrew to write a little manga anime called slam dunk You know how Japanese are they like don't really make the separation between cartoons and real life as much as like I guess Western people do that inspires the whole country to be basketball fans and play basketball That leads to crazy basketball collecting retro sneaker culture because the Japanese kind of started collecting Jordan ones and like pristine condition The first out of everybody in oh four five eight Utah tabu say signs a multi-year contract with the Phoenix Suns However, he gets cut in a month and a half, but he did drop 13 on Luke Rittenauer's head top I Obviously Seattle Super Sonic fans we are and then now in 2023 they got you to Watanabe and we're Hachimura being very effective NBA role-players. I will tell you this that's how good of a manga slam dunk was it actually got turned into an anime and it Actually inspired people to play basketball to this day. That is probably the best basketball cartoon ever made Yeah, they got blue crush for the World Cup too So it just goes to goes to show you man Animes it means something different to them man man. All right, so David We got to talk about the overall sports systems in Japan. Why does it seem like? Japanese people take sports so seriously and they're able to train the white right way like long story short I do think Japanese generally treat whatever they're doing seriously even if they're like being silly for a job They would like take it really seriously But that's just like an overarching cultural thing, but I will say this obviously Japan has been the longest running I guess first world economy in Asia that has allowed them to mimic and do to the relationships Of course after the war they attack Pearl Harbor They drop the bombs and then they have the Japanese economic miracle But with very close ties to America Japanese sports systems are actually the closely most modeled system in Asia to the US In Canada so actually in Japan Andrew you can sign up for like a parks and recs like easygoing league You can sign up for the school team and try to get a scholarship to go to college or you could sign up for like select Competitive clubs for almost everything will sport in basketball. That would be equivalent to a you Well David if we are going to model our sports system after any system It should be the American one because they are the best and also Andrew people say It has to do with the fact that Japan is not very religious Even though they have a lot of shinto influence that influences their work ethic They also are not very political because they're kind of just like oh, yeah, we're cool with how things are running So I'm just not gonna spend any time thinking about this. What does that leave them more time for? Sports yeah, and also Andrew you have a theory that it's not just the lack of religion and politics in Japan That makes them have more time for sports I mean I think in the past 75 years you've seen Japanese sports excel And that's partially because it became a pacifist country and they stopped putting energy and funding into military Right which is a lot of strong athletic men going into the military Yeah, and you put that kind of energy in running sports systems and other things and other things of course I say we took our energy from the battlefield to the soccer field and Baseball diamond. Yeah, and then also tie in the attention to detail obviously everybody knows even like something like sushi Is such a Detail-oriented and that's why they might produce the best full Asian guards overall minus Jeremy Lin who's American You know why because guard play especially in basketball is hyper detailed the reads and stuff It's like a game of inches. Um, I'll say this Andrew long story short though Japan has had sumo wrestling as a sport with heavy incentives for 2,000 years Wow Period Andrew the first sumo matches were designed further all the royals to watch for the gods to see if the Harvest was gonna be good or not. So they are used to betting big on sumo matches Wow, so their culture of sports and by sports I don't mean like gladiators where people have to die and fight for things or whatever I'm saying sports has been around for a really long time. Wow, and that leads us into our Japanese history section By the way guys, I know a lot of weebs are on the internet that are about to kill us for this We are not East Asian studies majors We're not Japan studies majors, but I did do some research Andrew I guess Japan is a really really unique country. Why do you think so many people are like, you know Japan's almost like just like I saw it in the pictures. It was this dreamlike state I didn't hear a single dog bark a single car horn beep and it was just like so different But still advanced. Yeah, I mean I think it has to do a lot with the geography and the culture They didn't have to worry about too many enemies invading they kind of been Isolationist but they have a I feel like pretty good agriculture overall across the islands and yeah It's a cold. It's a cold weather place, you know cold weather You got to figure things out. You got to build shelter and all that stuff So I don't know I mean there's a lot of reasons. Yeah, I'm not an expert on this I'm just literally rattling off the logical things All right I think that a lot of it had to do with like you said having no real enemies and then kind of being able to like Send out some smart people to go to learn from other places get the like the Studies and the research and like bring it back But literally just sort of like be on their own, you know I think Japan's history is like super fascinating. Of course Andrew They did do a lot of bad things in Asia. Oh, yeah But also that was weirdly driven by their sense of superiority and I'm not saying all those good things You know, it's all bad, but just like no think about it It was driven by something that like drives people even if it's like a bad impulse or a superiority impulse I'm telling you the focus and the energy that they were putting into the military at that time to pull off some of those Incredibly horrible things. They just put it more into a positive outlet like sports Yeah, I mean, I guess what are the legit downsides of Japanese culture too because like we said they work really long hours Whatever they do they pretty much like take it serious even if they're being silly Literally like being a comedian people take it serious like serious serious. Yeah, I mean I I do think that there's a pretty high Suicide rate I don't even know if it's the highest in the world, but it's it's up there and then Like happiness metrics some people say they they have the otomoshi Which is like they they they say one thing in public, but they feel something else day So you never feel like you can show what is in your heart to the outside. That's true That's true. They also have a declining birth rate. Obviously a lot of people don't want kids But that kind of happens in a lot of super advanced societies, you know, like you almost like just the next logical Self-destruct you just become a hipster and then you stop having kids and you just want dogs and plants and other hobbies and I think one of the biggest like Things that I've seen recently is they're like, will we as Japan? develop more robots or where we take immigration And a lot of people are always saying the Japanese are like, you know, hit the robot button I mean, I guess long story short Andrew for all its amazing pros and cons and debatable gray zones I guess what can people take away from like the Japanese ability to develop systems and I guess run teamwork because I heard Andrew that their sports systems focus so much on teamwork that even sometimes the players struggle and Isolation skills for example with Japan's teamwork led it to almost beat Croatia in the World Cup However, once it came down to penalty kicks, which is more of like a ISO selfish skill They weren't good at it same with the basketball players. They understand play action They move the rock but obviously to get to the NBA level you need the teamwork aspect and the ISO skills aspect man I don't know It's hard to say guys. I mean, I don't really have the answers on how other Asian countries can emulate Japan I think it's very hard. I'm sure a lot of people have been I mean Hong Kong Singapore Do they kind of South Korea? Are they all influenced by Taiwan? Yeah, Taiwan Korea Maybe the most the small Tigers the Asian Tiger economic countries. Yeah, so I guess I don't know you guys Let us know in the comments down below what you're thinking so far Like how can other Asian countries be more like Japan or is it almost not possible because all the elements had to come into play It was like a manches in society. They didn't have any Enemies on the borders, right? It was just water and all these other things. I mean, I don't know like how was it sumo's And they're the only ones with sumo's what if sumo's was one of those sumo's the samurai culture everything I don't know. Let us know in the comment section below number one Why you think Japan has the best youth sports developmental systems in all of Asia? Obviously now it's transferring to America I know Japanese Americans have you know their own developmental systems are actually pretty advanced as well, too But we're not talking about that and just let us know what you would like to or what you would not want to learn from Japan in General so you know again guys. We're the hot pot boys. Shout out to Utah Watanabe and Rui Hachimura And until next time we out peace. I wanted a Utah Watanabe jersey