Thanks to 'Slam Dunk Song Tae-seop' to Paris with men's and women's basketball?

Japanese basketball has come to an end recently. The Japanese women's basketball team, which won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, defeated Canada on the 12th and secured a berth to the Paris Olympics. The Japanese men's basketball team also secured a berth to the Paris Olympics, which is assigned to the Asian continent, with three wins and two losses at the 2023 World Cup Basketball Championship in Okinawa, Japan. Unfortunately, both the Korean men's and women's basketball teams failed to advance to the Olympic finals.

Interestingly, the Japanese women's and men's basketball teams have similar play styles. The two teams' play styles are based on speed, teamwork and three-point shooting. The so-called dynamic basketball, which became the norm in Japanese basketball, was created because the players of the Japanese national team are shorter than those of powerhouses in Europe or North America.

The Japanese women's team that participated in the preliminary round of the Paris Olympics had an average height of 174.4 centimeters, which was absolutely inferior to European powerhouses. However, they induced the opponent's error with high speed and made precise mid-range shots at a critical moment, ultimately settling on the Olympic finals. At the center of the race is Shiori Yasuma of Toyota Antelopes. Despite being only 161 centimeters tall, Yasuma rose to the top spot due to his outstanding speed and daredevil penetration.

Yuki Kawamura (23) of Yokohama B Colesares, a guard of the Japanese men's basketball team who made a splash at the World Cup last year, is only 172 centimeters tall. He is also a player with speed, excellent dribbling skills, and precise 3-point shooting skills.

This style of Japanese basketball was not created in an instant. It was possible because of the widespread culture in which Japanese middle and high school basketball teams selected short prospects with outstanding dribbling skills and speed and gave them a chance to grow.

It was the cartoon "Slam Dunk" that played a decisive role in the spread of such culture across the country. Song Tae-seop (Japanese name Ryota Miyagi), the point guard in "Slam Dunk", is described as a short player, but has excellent fighting spirit and speed as well as the ability to read the game. Japanese basketball dreamers, fascinated by his play, have often joined the basketball team in the belief that they can play basketball well even if they are short.

However, it was no coincidence that Takehiko Inoue, 54, the author of "Slam Dunk," created the character, Song Tae-seop. He was impressed by a high school basketball team in Okinawa, which created a national sensation in Japan in 1978.

Writer Inoue was only 169 centimeters tall on average, but after watching the performance of Okinawa's Hentona High School, which won third place in the Inter High Competition in 1978, he created a short guard character (Song Tae-seop), which was published in Japan in 2023. Although he did not mention it directly, the reason why Song Tae-seop's hometown in "Slam Dunk" was decided to be Okinawa was because of Hentona High School in Okinawa.

Hentona High School's style of play, which Inoue paid attention to, was to cover the weaknesses of a short team while moving quickly with abundant activity. So, he visited Yukio Asato, 71, the basketball coach at Hentona High School, and got various ideas for drawing basketball cartoons.

When Japan defeated Finland, a tall team, thanks to the great performance of short guard Kawamura at the 2023 World Cup, the Japanese basketball magazine "Monthly Basketball WEB" summoned Hentona High School, a basketball team of old memories. The magazine said, "(Japan's suppression of Finland) is a pleasant victory as if it proves that the direction of Japanese basketball is right as shown in Hentona High School."

It is no exaggeration to say that the revolutionary change in Japanese basketball, which is rushing to the world stage by selecting players based on their abilities regardless of their height and maximizing their speed, physical strength, and skills, started with Hentona High School and "Slam Dunk."

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