Basketball is a Universal Language

I speak a little bit of Japanese. Enough to get by. It flows slower than molasses, but it eventually gets the job done.

But last night I found that the language of hoops turbo charges my conversational speeds in Japanese.

I went to an open gym with my brother-in-law in rural Tochigi, Japan. None of the players in the gym spoke English beyond ‘Hello.’ So the greetings were slow. But then they noticed that I was wearing Kobe V’s.

Then the conversation really heated up.

I noticed that one guy was wearing Kobe VI’s. Another had on Kevin Durant’s signature shoe. Another was in Hyperdunks. Of the ten players in the gym, 9 had Nikes. Just one had Adidas. And he admitted that he wanted the newly released Kobe VII.

Japanese flows a lot more freely when I can use words like ‘Kobe Bryant,’ ‘Kevin Durant’ and ‘LeBron James.’

We all agreed that LeBron’s shoes were too heavy for our style of play. That his signature kicks were more appropriate as a fashion shoe. They liked some of the recent colorways, but none of them had any pairs of LeBrons.

KD and Kobe were undisputed kings with this crowd.

I found it interesting that Kevin Durant, a relative newcomer has found some die hard fans in rural Japan. 

None of the guys were able to watch NBA games, as they are only offered on an obscure station at midnight local time. They knew Durant’s game from YouTube. Kobe has been around longer, and many of the players said they had DVD’s celebrating different Lakers’ championships.

One smaller player idolized Jason Kidd. Every time someone would make a semi-fancy pass, he would shout ‘Jason Kiddo!’

There were no Dirk fans in the house. In fact most had never even heard of him. Which I found odd since he is one of the most successful outside of the US born players in league history.

For apparel, Brand Jordan dominated the court. Most players wore gigantic, parachute baggy Jordan shorts. It was like the Fab-Five on steroids. There were a couple And 1 shirts. But again, mostly Nike.

Everyone had a pretty freestyling game. It was definitely more street than bukatsu. The tendency was for every game to evolve into a high octane running game. There wasn’t a lot of showboating. So it was like a streamlined street style where smart and lighting fast passes were admired.

Every time I drove the hoop I was met with a chorus of ‘Kobe!!’ Which gave my dusty game a nice ego padding.

When someone would shoot from deep they were instantly declared ‘KD!’

I loved the enthusiasm for the game and the many player references that freely flowed during the session.

On one particular drive to the hoop, I made an extra effort to elude the defenders and extend to the hoop. Someone yelled out ‘Michael Jordan!’

To which I replied in the negative in my best Japanese ‘Michael Jordan janayo!’

I am not Michael Jordan.

But I didn’t dispute the Kobe comparisons…

Streetball in Tokyo

I checked out a streetball tournament at Yoyogi Court this weekend. There were a lot of solid players out there. I’d say on the whole that Tokyo streetball seems a lot more fundamentally sound than the American outdoor game. Players looked to set screens. They made very traditional chest and bounce passes. They didn’t overdribble the basketball. The only hole in their game I was struck by was a complete lack of boxing out. In America, going for the rebound is always the perfect excuse to ‘lay a little extra wood’ on your opponent. That’s where streetball can get nasty. I didn’t feel any nastiness out there.

There was no guy who tried to recreate Allen Iverson’s career highlight reel in a single possession.

There was no guy with fifteen arm bands, Kobe leggings, a 50-cent doo-rag.

There were some nice hints of style out there though. One guy wore two jerseys, one on his torso, and the other rigged around his neck, flowing Superman cape style. Nice. The emcee of the event had a New York 1979 level afro, and an announcing style that was unrecognizable as English or Japanese. He seemed more just flowing and freestyling with the DJs beats. One series of runs saw him simply saying ‘Cool. Cool. COOL! Cool. Cool. Cooooooool.’ This lasted for a two minute stretch. 

He was no Bobbito, but he was sure trying. And the players seemed to enjoy interacting with him.

A couple guys out there could jam, and a lot more tried. There were some nice lob attempts, that really didn’t have the juice on the finishing end to pull off. But you gotta appreciate the spirit. They were trying to take it to an And1 level.

There were a lot of kids and families around, which made it strange to my ears to hear the kind of lyrics the DJ was spinning. But then again, it was Japanese families and children, so of course many of them had no idea what those rappers were saying. They were just appreciating the beats and samples and hoops action.

The fans were pretty tame by streetball standards. They clapped politely as if they were watching a high school JV game. I suppose this is still the early ages of what streetball could become in Tokyo, and the crowds haven’t had a chance to develop the vibe or voice of the American game.

Streetball in Tokyo, I’m convinced could become a ubiquitous game.

In such a fashion frenzied city, what other sport gives you the chance to mix personal style and dress with competitive play?

You see an untapped passion here and there.

There are those guys who show up at Yoyogi Park to DANCE AND DRIBBLE A BASKETBALL. They are at it for hours. Dribbling, doing weird moves, sitting on the ball, spinning around the ball on their backs, blasting their boomboxes all the while.

There is a basketball only t-shirt shop in Shibuya. They make limited runs of Rodman with multi-colored hair. They reference old Nike ads. They worship all forms of the Jordan 5. We are talking serious hoops otaku here.

There is another shirt shop in Harajuku, hoops only themed, that mostly just make their own shirts about different Jordans. It’s a beautiful place.

These fires should be stoked. These voices must be heard. I’m tired of hearing that no one cares about basketball in Tokyo. A few people do. Not enough to show up in a marketing report pie chart maybe, but a few good people do care. A lot. I’m convinced if more people came into contact with this passion for the outdoor game of hoop, it could take off. Tokyo is another concrete jungle, like New York. The infrastructure of courts aren’t widespread yet, but with the subway, everything is easily connected.

In the future, streetball could be THE signature sport of the Tokyo streets.

What do you think would fan the flames of outdoor hoops in Tokyo?