I can’t speak for others about what drew them to follow the Japan Women’s Team, but I can share my own story of what made me follow them. In 2016, just before the Rio Olympics, I watched a documentary called Top Spin, which followed three American teenagers—Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang, and Michael Landers—on their journey and struggles to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. Michael didn’t end up qualifying, and in the years that followed, both he and Ariel eventually retired from international play. Lily, however, was slated to play in Rio 2016. That documentary told their narratives in a very compelling way that made we want to root for them. I followed Lily (the only one who continued playing professionally) during the Rio Olympics, and in doing so, I became more interested in women’s table tennis in general and began doing research and watching videos of players in women's table tennis.
It was really the stories that drew me in. While following the women’s game leading up to the Olympics, I remember watching this video (How Table Tennis Players Qualified for Rio 2016) and being surprised—yet intrigued—by how Mima Ito, then only 15 years old, managed to defeat a top Chinese player, Ding Ning. I started watching her matches more closely after that and was particularly intrigued how good she was at such a young age to the point of beating a top Chinese player. Not long after, I saw her face off against Miu Hirano at the 2016 Women’s World Cup, where I discovered yet another young star. I vividly remember watching live Hirano’s SF match against Feng Tianwei in the middle of the night (since it was held in the U.S.)—she was down 5–10 in the 4th set and was a risk being down 1-3. Somehow, she saved five game points to win the game and eventually won the match. It was considered a huge upset at the time.
Later that year, during the 2016 World Junior Championships, I was introduced to Hina Hayata, Miyu Kato (who were part of the Japan Team that beat China) and Tomokazu Harimoto (the youngest WJTTC winner). From there, my interest deepened—it became an ongoing journey of following these players and other Japanese players not only because of their youth but also because of their remarkable skill and success. Hirano winning the All Japan Championships at 16, defeating three Chinese players in a row at the 2017 Asian Championships, and earning a 2017 WTTC medal; T. Harimoto breaking records being the youngest winner of the WJTTC, youngest WTTC Quarterfinalist and youngest winner of a world tour; Ito’s explosive rise in 2018, beating top Chinese players like Liu Shiwen at the WTTTC, Chen Xingtong (from 0-3 down) and Wang Manyu in the Japan Open, and LSW, DN and ZYL in the Swedish Open added to the narrative.
I also remember following Hayata's breakout in late 2018 and in 2019 when she had a noticeable increase in level after she recovered from her injury in late 2018. She beat players considered higher level than her and notably teamed up Ito to defeat Sun Yingsha and Chen Xingtong twice at the end of 2018 to win the Austrian Open and World Tour Grand Finals. By then, with the Tokyo Olympics approaching and the fierce competition for spots on the Japanese women’s team, the stories became even more compelling. That’s when I decided to create the thread—Japan Women's Race to Tokyo 2020 Singles
I had no idea it would gain so much traction. Looking back, I think what resonated with people was the shared appreciation for the Japan National Team’s success, them becoming the biggest challengers to Chinese dominance in the women's game, and the evolving narratives of each of the players that made their story so interesting.
It’s also easy to follow them because the criteria for selecting national representatives in Japan is very transparent. This made it simple to follow and even compute the ranking points to see who was leading in the race for Olympic representation. It’s also more accessible to the global audience now, since you can watch their matches through TV Tokyo’s Table Tennis YouTube channel (with a Japan VPN), check updates on world-tt.com, and find various selection criteria, match results, and news articles that have become much more available online.
Even though I don’t follow as closely as before due to shifting priorities (leading to less time to post but I still do read this forum a lot), I remain grateful to everyone here who continues to keep the community alive by sharing updates, insights, and stories. I truly hope that the passion for following the Japan women’s team and the inspiring journeys of these athletes continues to grow.
Full disclosure: This post was aided by AI in terms of organization and flow but the thoughts, content and substance is mine. I guess it shows how I don’t have time to post as much in recent times. Haha.
