The Japanese men's national basketball team has competed in several Olympic Games and has produced several NBA players, including Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe.

During the Edo period, which lasted from the 17th to the mid-19th century, Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate and experienced a period of peace and stability.

Japan's victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the first time an Asian power had defeated a European power in a modern war.