I had the chance to interview Alvark Tokyo’s shooting guard Daiki Tanaka and to make a drawing of him.

（You can read the article here: http://goo.gl/ZNlB2L ）

(Alvark’s team colors are red and black, but will the uniforms use those colors too?  I was wondering about that as I was drawing the familiar green uniform.)

He wears the number 24 on the back of his jersey.

Not because of Kobe Bryant, but because of the “Nishi” (‘Ni’, ‘Shi’)** in his alma mater Nagasaki Nishi Highschool’s name.

Even in this day and age, no small number of Japanese would feel a sense of familiarity and nostalgia at his demeanor.

He is a man of few words who puts trust hard work and effort.

He is polite and sincere when he speaks, but has has no need for excessive words to describe anything more than the facts of what he has done.

Gentle on the outside, strong on the inside.  Behind his gentle exterior, his breast hides something that is tough and strong.

To me, that’s the type of person Daiki Tanaka appeared to be.

He was chosen for the Japanese National Team in college and has the skills and results to keep pace with the best of his generation.

I have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better for him as an athlete to show more of himself, or appeal more to the public, but from start to finish he has a reserved demeanor.  I don’t know if that is good or bad to be for a modern basketball player, but if you had to work with him, you’d probably feel that he was a young man you could trust.

The Japanese Men’s National Basketball Team participated in the last qualifying tournament for the Rio Olympics this July. (That interview was done even earlier to that).

The top teams from each region that had not already won a berth at the Olympics gathered to battle for the last 3 remaining spots.  Included in those teams were international powerhouses such as France and Serbia. Japan placed fourth in the Asia region to earn a spot in the tournament.

To the surprise of many, Tanaka was not chosen to be one of the 12 members to battle in the tournament.

They said the reason he ws not chosen was that since he wasn’t a true point guard, he ultimately couldn’t play as a true point guard.  But no matter how many times I think about it I can’t understnd that reasoning. It certainly did not appear that way to the people viewing things from the outside.

The Japanese Men’s National Team lost to Latvia, then the Czech Republic, ending their Olympic hopes.

Even while I can imagine how hard it was to win this last round, in which none of the countries from the Asia region won a single game, the difference in skill was vividly displayed.  All the things that need to be improved were brought out starkly.  If I had to say one thing that came from this, it would be that they learned firsthand that they will never be able to close the gap if they just stand around with their arms folded.

As I watched the pre-dawn game on the internet, my thoughts turned to Tanaka, who wasn’t on the court.

I wonder what he was thinking.  I’d like to ask him if I get the chance.

The Japanese National Team was completely whipped, but I’m sure this experience will be very important for the 12 people who tasted it.  He couldn’t take part in the experience.  He’s probably swallowing the dissapointment of not being chosen, imprinting the image of his peers’ crushing defeat in his eyes, getting angry at himself for not being there and thinking about what he has to do next.

With a sense of urgency, he’s probably already started doing things to improve himself.

If I’m right, we’ll see a new Daiki Tanaka when the new season begins in less than 2 months.

That’s another reason to make your way to the courtside.

Takehiko Inoue  

** “2” can be pronunced as “Ni” and “4” can be prounced as “Shi”.  “Nishi” in the name of the highschool means “West”.

* 7/26 Update: I received mail from Daiki Tanaka after he read this article.  His words conveyed his state of mind, so I wanted to share them. After receiving permission from him to do so, here is a part of what he wrote.

(Starting below)

With regards to not being chosen this time, it was certainly because I was not skilled enough.  I believe that I did not deserve to be chosen.

Truthfully, I think that not being able to experience the OQT was definitely a minus for me.  However, I believe that life only gives you what you need, so I need to personally recover the value that I lost this tim and have an even stronger impact going forward.

* “OQT” = Olympic Qualifying Tournament — the last prelimanary tournament before the Olympics