I interviewed Ryuichi Kishimoto of the Ryukyu Golden Kings.

（The interview can be found here:  http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ845SRWJ84UTQP031.html ）

The story of his past before he joined the Ryukyu Kings is really very interesting.

The Ryukyu Golden Kings were formed when he was a freshman on the basketball team at Kitanakagusuku High School.  It was his home town’s first pro basketball team.

According to himself, the kid Kishimoto was an insolent high schooler who casually went to his first game just to see what it was like.

He was completely floored by the atmosphere when he stepped inside the arena.  The intensity and solidarity.  He hadn’t seen this type of atmosphere in Japanese basketball before.  What was this?

Ever since he started playing as a kid, he had entertained vague ideas about wanting to play basketball professionaly.  But how?  He couldn’t envision a future where that happened.  He couldn’t visualize how to make a living playing basketball in Japan.  He couldn’t imagine what he hadn’t seen.  That’s how things were.

… this was it.  His home town now had a team like this.  An extremely pumped up arena.  The feeling of unity between the fan seats and the court.  The soul rattling cheers.  It was decided.  “I will play here”. He never wavered since embracing that decision as a high school freshman.

The vague dreams of becoming a pro basketball player had materialized into a vision of becoming a player for the Kings.

It is said that the more concrete a vision is, the higher the chance of successfully bringing it to life.  I expect that there will now be more kids throughout the various areas of Japan who imagine their futures with their home teams.

9/22 is when the B League, the new pro basketball league in Japan, starts action.  I hope that young basketball boys and girls will come out to every home town arena throughout the nation to watch.  I wonder what thoughts those boys and girls will hold after watching the matches.

Ryuichi Kishimoto’s story of his road to the Kings has shown what basketball in Okinawa is currently like and what basketball in Japan should be like in the future.

(The following is off topic but it is an important digression.)
 
 
I can’t remember eating more delicious food at a basketball arena. Outside of the arena for the Kings’ home game were a kichen car (bus) that started with a legit pizza, then onigiri (rice balls) and karaage (fried chicken), small round doughnuts, chicken, etc.  It was all delicious.  I didn’t get a chance to have any, but it appeared you could get ramen at your seat.  Being able to enjoy many different types of food is one thing Japan is proud of.  Good things should be copied.  I think that it would be great if you could look forward to great food at every basketball arena in Japan.  Because that is also an important part of watching a basketball game.

Takehiko Inoue