Japan's Emerging Cricket Scene: ICC's Long Game

Japan does not yet move the cricketing needle the way it does in the Olympics, aquatics or athletics. But the sport’s powerbrokers have read the map. As Asia’s major events keep gravitating towards Tokyo and its satellite cities, the International Cricket Council (ICC) sees a different kind of opportunity: a non-traditional market with world-class hosting muscle.

The country that staged the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the World Aquatics Championship and the World Athletics Championships is now preparing to host cricket at the Asian Games. That, for the ICC, is not a side show. It is a test case.

ICC’s long game in Japan

William Glenwright, the ICC’s GM – Development, is clear about where this is heading. Japan is not just another associate member to be nurtured; it is a potential events hub.

“So part of our longer-term strategic planning with Japan is how do we work with them to build up their capabilities to host larger ICC events, and potentially one day, you know, years down the track, there might be an opportunity to host or co-host a Youth World Cup or something as part of a bigger plan,” Glenwright tells Cricbuzz.

The governing body has already been encouraged by one crucial signal: India’s willingness to engage. The world champions have agreed to play a T20I against Japan, currently ranked 41st. On paper, it is a mismatch. In the ICC’s boardrooms, it is a landmark.

“India's tour of Japan is so important, because not only does it build, obviously, the capability of the cricket team, but it builds the broader capabilities of the organisation around meeting the demands that come with hosting world champions,” Glenwright explains. For the Japan Cricket Association (JCA), that means learning to handle elite-level logistics, media, security and match operations.

“Having a full member and the world champions playing any associate member is hugely important to us from a cricket perspective. And then there's the other element of that, which is – what does it mean for the country of Japan and cricket's significance in Japan? And that's the ripple effect of a fixture like this,” he says. The message is simple: if full members are prepared to travel, the ICC believes the associate can cope.

Results that no longer look like a novelty

On the field, Japan’s men’s team has quietly put together a body of work that no longer looks like a curiosity on the ICC’s fixture list.

They played seven games in 2022, winning five and losing two. In 2023, they were more evenly matched – four wins, four defeats from eight. The real leap came in 2024: 25 matches, 18 victories, only six losses and one abandoned. In 2025, they played 11 times (six wins, five defeats), and in 2026 so far, they have won eight of their 10 outings.

These are not padded records built solely against fellow strugglers. Japan have beaten Kuwait (ranked 23rd), Bahrain (27th) and Papua New Guinea (22nd) during this stretch. For an associate still building depth, those are genuine markers.

The women’s progression has been just as telling, if not more dramatic. In 2022 they played four matches and lost them all. A year later, 16 fixtures brought four wins and 12 defeats. Then came the surge: 14 games in 2024, 10 wins and four losses. In 2025, they claimed seven wins from 11 matches, and in 2026 they have already taken three victories from five.

The numbers point to a programme that has moved from survival mode into genuine competition.

A digital audience starts to wake up

The ICC has not left Japan’s growth to word of mouth. For the first time, it live-streamed select matches on YouTube and Facebook in key emerging markets, treating digital platforms as both shop window and testing ground.

The response in Japan was striking. Across YouTube and Facebook, live streams drew more than 1.1 million views in the country. On YouTube’s non-English feeds, which recorded 201,000 views across Japan and Indonesia, Japanese-language coverage accounted for 58% (118,000 views), with the remaining 42% split between Hindi and Urdu.

On Facebook, the tilt was even stronger. Non-English feeds generated 252,000 views across the same two territories; Japanese-language streams delivered 70% of that total. For a sport still fighting for recognition in a market dominated by baseball and football, those are not background numbers. They suggest an audience that is at least curious, and increasingly engaged.

“Facing India is just unreal”

No one feels that shift more keenly than the players themselves. Mai Yanagida, captain of Japan’s women’s team, has lived the slow burn of the last decade.

“Yeah, Japan is not a cricket nation like India, but I think over the last few years, or 10 years, I think the awareness of cricketers and the popularity of cricketers has increased. So hopefully there'll be a lot of crowd and people will watch us play. And hopefully, yeah, we'll compete with one of the top nations,” she says.

Her side will open their Asian Games campaign against India on Friday morning (IST). It is the kind of fixture that would have seemed fanciful not long ago. Now it is reality, and Yanagida’s squad have done their homework. They tracked India’s recent Asia Cup triumph. They have been regular viewers of the WPL. The names and styles are familiar; the gap in pedigree is not intimidating, just exhilarating.

“Facing India is just unreal. And it's very exciting. Of course, we've never played against them before. They are one of the top nations. We were watching the Asia Cup, we were following them. They just won the tournament. I know that all the players are top-class players. It can be intimidating. But it's more like an excitement to watch them and see them play and share the field with them,” she says.

For Japan’s players, this is not only a contest. It is an education, a live masterclass in what the top tier looks like up close.

Asian Games as a gateway

The Asian Games themselves sit at the heart of the ICC’s development blueprint. They may not carry the global prestige of the Olympics, but for cricket’s emerging members, they open doors that the five-ring circus cannot.

“For a number of reasons,” Glenwright says. “Firstly, because the Olympic Games is limited in size, as it is for all sports, the Asian Games or the regional games allow more of our members to participate in a multi-sport event. And secondly, that unlocks all sorts of funding from governments, from Olympic committees and from sponsors, in addition to the increased competitive opportunities that it provides.”

The impact in Japan is already concrete. The country now has a second international-standard cricket ground. Sano was the original hub; Nagoya has joined it. That is a quiet revolution. Most major ICC events demand at least two international facilities. Japan now ticks that box.

“On account of the Asian Games, we now have, or Japan Cricket now has, a second international cricket ground available to them. So there's one in Sano, and there's now one in Nagoya. So that means we have two international-standard facilities in Japan, which means all of a sudden, the capability and potential for Japan to host major ICC events, where by and large you need at least two international facilities, changes now, and it brings Japan into the equation,” Glenwright explains.

Pitch, perception and the next step

The Asian Games fall under the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), and the build-up has not been free of criticism. Concerns have been raised over elements of the venue infrastructure – not the surface itself, but the areas that surround it.

Glenwright, though, is bullish about the cricketing core.

“The ground itself, we have no concerns with. We held a World Cup qualifier there earlier this year. The reports are that the pitch and the outfield are excellent. We wouldn't have held a World Cup qualifier there if we weren't confident in it,” he says.

The issues flagged by the ACC relate to athlete facilities – changing rooms, media spaces and similar enclosures. Those, Glenwright insists, are being worked through.

“I believe they are being addressed. And the last update that we had is that they were being addressed. But in terms of the pitch itself and the outfield, the cricket facility, we're very confident that it's going to be a great facility that reflects the importance of this event and the members participating in it.”

So Japan arrives at this Asian Games with two functioning international grounds, a men’s side that has started to bloody a few higher-ranked noses, a women’s team about to walk out against the world champions, and a digital audience that is finally tuning in.

For a country long dismissed as a cricketing outpost, the question now is no longer whether it belongs in the conversation – it is how quickly it can turn this momentum into a home World Cup of its own.