Since 1934, Japan has been playing American Football. Today, they have highly organized leagues from youth football up to a professional league called the X-League. Compared to a lot of other international leagues I’ve seen, Japan seems to have a lot of talent and potential. I hope that by watching this video, you find it interesting, and can gain a better understanding of a country other than the US that plays American football.
Full disclaimer, I have no clue how to speak Japanese. People who have watched my other videos, might think that I’m not great at speaking English as well. I did my best to say many of the names and cities in this video. So, my apologies if I butchered any names or other words.
I also blurred out an image that I regretfully took from someone. Just a learning experience for my next video. So, you'll see around a 10-second blur once I start talking about the X-League at then end of the video.
Thanks for watching and make sure to like and subscribe to the channel. If you have any comments or concerns, write them below, or email me at cfbhistorychanne@gmail.com.
Below is a podcast called Gridiron Japan Hosted by John Gunning of Inside Sport Japan, form Obic Seagull BJ Beatty, Professional Football Researchers Association member, Greg St. James. The cover the ins and outs of football in Japan and have a lot of great interviews with current and former X league players. Make sure you check them out and give them a listen:
https://gridironjapan.jp/
https://gridironjapan.net/
Here are links to the two channels I mentioned in the video about football in Japan:
- Colby Campbell: Vlog from an American Football Player in Japan https://youtube.com/@colbycampbellc4?si=aO_sZpvwjicpGSlM
- X-League: Main channel for the X-League. They post highlights of games and great interviews with some of their athletes https://youtube.com/@xleague1996?si=niAymsFLRba2btpV
If you are interested in learning more about the history of football, feel free to check out 'The Football Odyssey' website and podcast. They do a great job going over interesting and unique football topics. In one of their most recent podcast episodes, they interview Dan Moldea, an investigative journalist, to discuss his 1989 book: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. This book explored the relationship between the NFL and the world of gamblers and bookmakers, as well as chronicled the rise of the NFL Security Department which was created to safeguard the integrity of the game.
If you would like to check out The Football Odyssey, feel free to visit their website or listen to their podcast with the links below:
website: https://www.thefootballodyssey.com/
podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/episode/43NrTyrusaR22sawMBCVqr
podcast (Apple): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-football-odyssey-with-aron-harris/id1523060009
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Kv_NInjlOAlE4lrpWu4zw
Music Credit:
Ishikari Lore by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100192
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
The Voyage by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/