Japan men's national ice hockey team explained

Japan
Badge:	Japan national ice hockey team 2015.png
Badge Size:	145px
Association:	Japan Ice Hockey Federation
General Manager:	Yutaka Saho
Coach:	Jarrod Skalde
Asst Coach:	Chris Wakabayashi Takeshi Yamanaka
Captain:	Shogo Nakajima
Most Games:	Go Tanaka (126)
Top Scorer:	Toshiyuki Sakai (44)
Most Points:	Norio Suzuki (85)
Iihf Code:	JPN
Iihf Max:	15
Iihf Max Date:	2003–04
Iihf Min:	25
Iihf Min Date:	2021–23
First Game:	12–2 (Davos, Switzerland; 24 January 1930)
Largest Win:	44–1 (Gangneung, South Korea; 30 January 1999)
Largest Loss:	25–1 (Moscow, Soviet Union; 4 March 1957)
World Champ Apps:	47
World Champ First:	1930
World Champ Best:	8th (1930, 1957)
Regional Name:	Asian Winter Games
Regional Cup Apps:	8
Regional Cup First:	1986
Regional Cup Best:	Gold (2003, 2007) Silver (1986, 1990, 1996, 1999, 2011) Bronze (2017)
Olympic Apps:	8
Olympic First:	1936
Record:	291–391–49

The Japanese national ice hockey team (Japanese: アイスホッケー男子日本代表 Aisuhokkē Danshi Nippon Daihyō) is the national men's ice hockey of Japan. They are controlled by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Japan is currently ranked 23rd in the rankings and currently compete in the IIHF World Championship Division I. They have competed in eight Olympic Games competitions.

Tournament participation

Winter Olympics

• 1936 – 9th place (tied)
• 1960 – 8th place
• 1964 – 11th place
• 1968 – 10th place
• 1972 – 9th place
• 1976 – 9th place
• 1980 – 12th place
• 1998 – 13th place

World Championship

• 1930 – Finished tied in 6th place
• 1957 – Finished in 8th place
• 1962 – Finished in 9th place (1st in "Pool B")
• 1967 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C")
• 1969 – Finished in 15th place (1st in "Pool C")
• 1970 – Finished in 11th place (5th in "Pool B")
• 1971 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B")
• 1972 – Finished in 11th place (5th in "Pool B")
• 1973 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B")
• 1974 – Finished in 10th place (4th in "Pool B")
• 1975 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B")
• 1976 – Finished in 10th place (2nd in "Pool B")
• 1977 – Finished in 11th place (3rd in "Pool B")
• 1978 – Finished in 10th place (2nd in "Pool B")
• 1979 – Finished in 14th place (6th in "Pool B")
• 1981 – Finished in 16th place (8th in "Pool B")
• 1982 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C")
• 1983 – Finished in 13th place (5th in "Pool B")
• 1985 – Finished in 13th place (5th in "Pool B")
• 1986 – Finished in 15th place (8th in "Pool B")
• 1987 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C")
• 1989 – Finished in 15th place (7th in "Pool B")
• 1990 – Finished in 15th place (7th in "Pool B")
• 1991 – Finished in 16th place (8th in "Pool B")
• 1992 – Finished in 15th place (3rd in "Pool B")
• 1993 – Finished in 17th place (5th in "Pool B")
• 1994 – Finished in 16th place (4th in "Pool B")
• 1995 – Finished in 18th place (6th in "Pool B")
• 1996 – Finished in 20th place (8th in "Pool B")
• 1997 – Finished in 24th place (4th in "Pool C")
• 1998 – Finished in 14th place
• 1999 – Finished in 16th place
• 2000 – Finished in 16th place
• 2001 – Finished in 16th place
• 2002 – Finished in 16th place
• 2003 – Finished in 16th place
• 2004 – Finished in 15th place
• 2005 – Finished in 24th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
• 2006 – Finished in 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2007 – Finished in 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2008 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2009 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2010 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2011 – Withdrew from tournament citing the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake; remained in Group A
• 2012 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
• 2013 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
• 2014 – Finished in 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A)
• 2015 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A)
• 2016 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in Division I, Group A)
• 2017 – Finished in 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2018 – Finished in 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2019 – Finished in 25th place (3rd in Division I, Group B)
• 2020 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[1]
• 2021 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic^[2]
• 2022 – Finished in 22nd place (2nd in Division I, Group B)
• 2023 – Finished in 23rd place (1st in Division I, Group B)
• 2024 – Finished in 21st place (5th in Division I, Group A)

Asian Winter Games

• 1986 – Finished in 2nd place
• 1990 – Finished in 2nd place
• 1996 – Finished in 2nd place
• 1999 – Finished in 2nd place
• 2003 – Finished in 1st place
• 2007 – Finished in 1st place
• 2011 – Finished in 2nd place
• 2017 – Finished in 3rd place

Honours

• IIHF World Championship Division I / Pool B
  • Winners: 1962 Pool B, 2023 (B)
• IIHF World Championship Division II / Pool C
  • Winners: 1967 Pool C, 1969 Pool C, 1982 Pool C, 1987 Pool C

Notable coaches

• 1962, Tsutomu Kawabuchi^[3]
• 2022, Perry Pearn

All-time record against other nations

As of 14 April 2023^[4]

Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA
	31	25	2	4	221	71
	33	19	1	13	146	108
	27	20	1	6	176	54
/	32	16	2	14	131	128
	36	13	7	16	123	151
	30	17	4	9	156	90
	29	17	1	11	134	105
	39	13	4	22	123	151
	29	11	1	17	98	117
	11	11	0	0	93	19
	31	15	0	16	106	87
	31	9	3	19	93	141
	11	8	0	3	66	29
	33	10	3	20	86	122
	8	7	0	1	94	22
	44	6	2	36	100	221
	14	6	1	7	34	41
	9	7	0	2	26	12
	40	1	3	36	76	218
	16	3	1	12	45	89
	17	2	2	13	34	70
	6	6	0	0	30	6
	6	5	1	0	29	15
	18	5	1	12	35	61
	1	1	0	0	44	1
	1	1	0	0	39	0
	1	1	0	0	24	0
	1	1	0	0	18	0
	1	1	0	0	11	2
	1	1	0	0	7	1
	16	8	2	6	39	42
	7	1	1	5	14	27
	7	0	1	6	15	57
/	10	0	0	10	24	117
/	13	0	0	13	22	139
	4	0	0	4	1	44
	6	0	0	6	12	47
/	18	2	0	16	41	102
	11	0	0	11	22	70
	8	0	0	8	20	77
Total	699	251	47	381	2651	2969

All-time record against other teams

As of 27 August 2016^[5]

Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA
Battleford Millers	2	0	0	2	2	33
Victoria Navy	1	0	0	1	1	9
Pacific Coast Amateur League All Stars	1	0	0	1	9	10
Nanaimo Labatts	1	0	0	1	5	10
Chilliwack Volvos	1	0	0	1	4	9
	4	1	0	3	3	31
Kamloops Cariboos	1	0	0	1	1	6
Central Alberta Hockey League All Stars	1	0	0	1	2	17
	1	0	1	0	4	4
Regina Caps	1	0	0	1	5	9
	1	1	0	0	8	6
	1	0	0	1	4	11
	2	1	0	1	9	16
Thunder Bay Junior League All Stars	2	0	0	2	8	12
	1	0	0	1	3	7
	2	2	0	0	18	6
Chilliwack Steelheads	1	0	0	1	4	10
Victoria Commercial League All Stars	1	1	0	0	8	5
	1	0	0	1	5	7
Portland Royals	1	1	0	0	11	4
Victoria Intermediate All Stars	1	1	0	0	6	5
	1	1	0	0	5	2
	1	0	0	1	3	12
Saskatchewan Junior League All Stars	1	1	0	0	12	4
Manitoba South Junior All Stars	1	0	0	1	2	7
Kingston Merchants	1	1	0	0	7	6
Halifax Canadiens	1	1	0	0	7	4
	1	0	0	1	3	7
Bathurst Papermakers	1	1	0	0	4	3
Manitoba North Junior All Stars	1	1	0	0	8	6
North Peace River League All Stars	1	1	0	0	7	4
Prince George Mohawks	1	1	0	0	8	7
	1	1	0	0	6	5
	4	1	0	3	1	16
	1	0	0	1	2	9
	2	0	0	2	5	16
	1	1	0	0	4	3
	1	0	0	1	4	5
	1	0	0	1	4	9
	1	0	0	1	2	13
	1	0	0	1	2	7
	1	0	0	1	4	6
	1	1	0	0	4	1
	15	1	1	13	13	60
	2	0	0	2	2	17
	2	0	0	2	3	13
	1	0	1	0	4	4
	1	0	0	1	1	4
Japan All Stars	1	0	0	1	5	6
	1	0	0	1	3	6
	1	0	0	1	4	5
	1	0	0	1	2	3
	1	0	0	1	2	5
	1	1	0	0	5	2
	1	0	0	1	2	7
	1	0	0	1	3	4
	2	0	0	2	3	6
	1	1	0	0	5	2
	2	1	0	1	4	9
Qiqihar	2	0	0	2	5	22
Khabarovsk	1	0	0	1	3	5
	1	0	0	1	2	5
	1	0	0	1	2	3
	1	1	0	0	4	1
	2	1	0	1	3	6
Mid-West Islanders	2	2	0	0	13	3
	1	0	1	0	3	3
	1	0	1	0	2	2
Amurskie Tigry	1	1	0	0	4	3
	1	1	0	0	4	1
	1	0	0	1	1	3
	1	0	0	1	1	5
	1	0	0	1	1	2
Total	106	30	5	71	347	608

See also

• All Japan Ice hockey Championship
• Japan men's national junior ice hockey team
• Japan men's national under-18 ice hockey team
• Japan women's national ice hockey team

External links

• • IIHF profile
• National Teams of Ice Hockey

Notes and References

1. Web site: IIHF cancels Division I tournaments. 17 March 2019. iihf.com.
2. Web site: IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations. 18 November 2020. International Ice Hockey Federation.
3. Web site: 2.128 Tsutomu Kawabuchi. Legends of Hockey. Hockey Hall of Fame. 5 March 2019.
4. Web site: Japan-Men-All-Time-Results-1.pdf . National Teams of Ice Hockey . 30 December 2017 .
5. Web site: Japan-Men-All-Time-Results-1.pdf . National Teams of Ice Hockey . 30 December 2017 .