what are some popular sports in japan?

BASEBALL!
Sumo, in addition;
Soccer, more recently
Volleyball, especially womans
Handball, for no reason I know the reason of...
Badminton,
Table tennis,
Tennis, while Sugiyama Ai was on her game
Golf,
Womens softball
Curling, the one thing about Japan is they love trends and theh recent olympics shoved curling up the ranks which would include,
Ski Jumping,
Synco swimming,
Rugby is a bit old but had it's era,
The traditional sports, Judo, Kendo, aikido: for obvious reasons
Archery; once again fashionable due to the fame of the olympics recently, and for that matter-
Snow-boarding,
Mogul skiing.
Hammer throwing
Marathons, (female especially)

Really it depends on what Japan is doing stongly at the time, the Japanese always back a Japanese winner!

2007-08-18 02:09:23 · answer #1 · answered by Bonbu 4 · 2⤊ 4⤋

Sports popularity is sometimes best measured by the TV air time it gets. You can always see the major 4 sports in the US on TV. Not much pro lacrosse or badminton on US television.

Japan Pro Baseball is aired on TV all the time. Some teams are more popular than others. Last season, I tried to take my kids to a Tokyo Giants game the same time when the Hanshin Tigers were in town. Most of theTokyo Dome was sold out. MLB teams with Japanese players are popular and those games are aired. Mariners and NY Yankee games are always on TV.

Soccer is popular and most J League (Japan Pro soccer) games are aired on TV. Whenever there are world matches or friendly games between Japan and another nations you will able to see those games everywhere. Satellite TV usually has great coverage of Euro soccer.

Sumo is actually a sport that is loosing it's viewership and popularity. The people who already like sumo continue to watch and attend the basho's but there are very young fans and young talent entering the sport.

I don't have an answer nor does any of my co workers or nieghbors to why marathons are popular and aired on TV. Wake up on a random Sat or Sun and there is a Marathon being covered on NHK. Go figure, I am still wondering.

Betting sports such as horse racing, boat racing, motorcycle racing (the circle track type) and keirin (velodrome bikes) are all aired on TV. This is more due to the fact that you can gamble on these things in some legal form. All of these are also circle track racing.

Late at night, Japan X-League gets airtime. The X-League is Japanese-NFL'ish pro football league.

Boxing gets some decent coverage on cable or satellite TV, but K-1 and Pride gets prime time air and also usually has major events on and around New Years. I usually catch the K-1 stuff free and days before it is on PPV back in the USA. Pride is also aired to the general public. PPV sports is not a thing in Japan.

2007-08-18 04:05:14 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋

The two most popular sports among elementary school kids are baseball and football. Baseball has always been and will remain by far the most popular, though its popularity waned only for a short period when the Japanese pro-football league started. No Japanese kids want to be sumo wrestlers any longer. The sumo world is dominated by foreign wrestlers already. I'm a would-be elementary school teacher.

2016-03-17 01:47:35 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋

I agree with Bonbu, aside from baseball, sumo and soccer it's whatever Japan is internationally competitive in at the moment. Hence volleyball isn't what it used to be, but ski-jumping, moguls and speed skating are big these days. Keirin is probably the #1 sport in terms of total attendance. Baseball is easily #1 in terms of TV rating. Sumo is really up and down depending on the popularity of individual wrestlers.

2007-08-18 02:17:14 · answer #4 · answered by michinoku2001 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋

Hi,
I found a free download of Table Tennis Pro here: http://bit.ly/1qXDfd2

it's the full version, avaiable for free! very fast to install
Table Tennis Pro, which is extremely addictive and based on classical ping pong, is the ideal game for all those table tennis fanatics out there.
It's a must have game.

2014-09-15 14:47:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋

Without a doubt, baseball is #1. After that, I would have to say soccer, and then judo.

2007-08-18 17:18:00 · answer #6 · answered by Baysoc23 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋

they're pretty fond of baseball and soccer thats why beckhams face are in their chocolate boxes! and aside from the traditional sumo wrestling.. i noticed they were quite active in bowling.. was always getting invitations to go bowling! =)

2007-08-18 20:40:37 · answer #7 · answered by swtsxybb 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋

definately softball + japanese style wrestling r their favourite! n golf 4 the richie......

2007-08-19 18:48:48 · answer #8 · answered by NMS HKG 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋

baseball, sumo, rugby (football), ski / snowboard...

2007-08-18 03:21:29 · answer #9 · answered by askawow 47 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋

Baseball, America-bashing, sumo wrestling, America-bashing, and America-bashing.

2007-08-18 01:40:23 · answer #10 · answered by oldsalt 7 · 2⤊ 8⤋

what are some popular sports in japan?

10 answers