Japan selected a squad of 37 players to participate in the 2023 international season, beginning in about two months with the Volleyball Nations League. Philippe Blain will begin working with the team shortly. The first players will join the team’s initial training camp in Tokyo on April 9, with the remaining players joining after completing their club seasons worldwide. All 14 players who helped Japan finish 12th in last year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship, including star opposite Yuji Nishida and outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa, who remains the team captain for a second consecutive season, will be returning this season.
Japan men’s national team:
Setters: Akihiro Fukatsu, Masahiro Sekita, Masaki Oya, Motoki Eiro, Ryu Yamamoto, Ryo Shimokawa
Opposites: Yuji Nishida, Kento Miyaura, Hiroto Nishiyama, Keihan Takahashi
Outside hitters: Tatsunori Otsuka, Kenta Takanashi, Shoma Tomita, Ran Takahashi, Yuki Ishikawa, Masahiro Yanagida, Hiroki Ozawa, Kenya Fujinaka, Akito Yamazaki, Masato Kai, Yudai Arai
Middle blockers: Taishi Onodera, Akihiro Yamauchi, Kentaro Takahashi, Go Murayama, Shunichiro Sato, Takahiro Namba, Larry Evbade-Dan, Kento Asano, Hirohito Kashimura, Hiromasa Miwa
Liberos: Tomohiro Ogawa, Satoshi Tsuiki, Tomohiro Yamamoto, Kazuyuki Takahashi, Soshi Fujinaka, Kazuma Sonae
