Japan, Made in the World

The core of the Japanese team comprises players of English and Indian heritage. At the qualifiers for the U-19 World Cup, Japan had beaten Vanuatu, Samoa and Fiji comfortably. Japan has started to focus on cricket because cricket could be considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games some time in the future. In 2012, the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) made a 20-year programme to make cricket popular in the country. Cricket is a newcomer in Japan, and the sport is more popular among the expats from south Asia and UK. JCA CEO is Naoki Alex Miyaji, whose father is Japanese and mother Scottish, and head of operations is Alan Curr. A senior player is Neel Date, who is of Indian heritage, and there are ‘foreign’ names in the squad, such as Marcus Thurgate, Tushar Chaturvedi, Maximillian Clements, Ishaan Fartyal, Leon Mehlig, Yugandhar Retharekar, Debashish Sahoo and Ashley Thurgate. The ethnic Japanese players are Kento Dobell, Sora Ichiki, Masato Morita, Shu Noguchi, Reiji Suto, and Kazumasa Takahashi.