Passionate players keep Tokyo's hockey scene alive
Hockey is one of the most-watched sports at the Winter Olympics, but in Japan, the “fastest game on ice” hasn’t grown in years. Still, some passionate players in Tokyo have built a tight-knit community for the sport, which includes a long-running team founded by Canadians.
Several hockey players file into a suburban ice rink complex carrying sticks and hauling hefty bags of gear. They drop them on the ground and start getting dressed for their Sunday practice game. Their red, white and black uniforms feature an instantly recognizable maple leaf logo.
It could be a scene right out of any town in hockey-crazed Canada, but this is half a world away in Funabashi, a roughly 45-minute drive from central Tokyo.
The team is called the ‘Tokyo Canadians’, and this is their 26th year as a hockey club. They started out as a small group of expatriates who rounded up Canadian players for games with some help from their embassy.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/1903/