The Japanese national ice hockey team ( Aisuhokkē Danshi Nippon Daihyō) is the national men's ice hockey of Japan. They are controlled by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As of 2025, Japan is ranked 20th in the IIHF World Ranking and 2nd in Asian Ranking. They currently compete in the IIHF World Championship Division I. They have competed in eight Olympic Games competitions. Team Japan are two-time Asian Winter Games champions (2003, 2007) and won the silver medal at the inaugural IIHF Asia Championship.
Tournament participation
Winter Olympics 1936 – 9th place (tied) 1960 – 8th place 1964 – 11th place 1968 – 10th place 1972 – 9th place 1976 – 9th place 1980 – 12th place 1998 – 13th place
World Championship
1930 – Finished in 9th place 1957 – Finished in 8th place 1962 – Finished in 9th place (1st in "Pool B") 1967 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C") 1969 – Finished in 15th place (1st in "Pool C") 1970 – Finished in 11th place (5th in "Pool B") 1971 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B") 1972 – Finished in 11th place (5th in "Pool B") 1973 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B") 1974 – Finished in 10th place (4th in "Pool B") 1975 – Finished in 12th place (6th in "Pool B") 1976 – Finished in 10th place (2nd in "Pool B") 1977 – Finished in 11th place (3rd in "Pool B") 1978 – Finished in 10th place (2nd in "Pool B") 1979 – Finished in 14th place (6th in "Pool B") 1981 – Finished in 16th place (8th in "Pool B") 1982 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C") 1983 – Finished in 13th place (5th in "Pool B") 1985 – Finished in 13th place (5th in "Pool B") 1986 – Finished in 15th place (8th in "Pool B") 1987 – Finished in 17th place (1st in "Pool C") 1989 – Finished in 15th place (7th in "Pool B") 1990 – Finished in 15th place (7th in "Pool B") 1991 – Finished in 16th place (8th in "Pool B") 1992 – Finished in 15th place (3rd in "Pool B") 1993 – Finished in 17th place (5th in "Pool B") 1994 – Finished in 16th place (4th in "Pool B") 1995 – Finished in 18th place (6th in "Pool B") 1996 – Finished in 20th place (8th in "Pool B") 1997 – Finished in 24th place (4th in "Pool C") 1998 – Finished in 14th place 1999 – Finished in 16th place 2000 – Finished in 16th place 2001 – Finished in 16th place 2002 – Finished in 16th place 2003 – Finished in 16th place 2004 – Finished in 15th place 2005 – Finished in 24th place (4th in Division I, Group A) 2006 – Finished in 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group A) 2007 – Finished in 22nd place (3rd in Division I, Group B) 2008 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group B) 2009 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group A) 2010 – Finished in 21st place (3rd in Division I, Group A) 2011 – Withdrew from tournament citing the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake; remained in Group A 2012 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A) 2013 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A) 2014 – Finished in 19th place (3rd in Division I, Group A) 2015 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A) 2016 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in Division I, Group A) 2017 – Finished in 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B) 2018 – Finished in 24th place (2nd in Division I, Group B) 2019 – Finished in 25th place (3rd in Division I, Group B) 2020 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 – Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2022 – Finished in 22nd place (2nd in Division I, Group B) 2023 – Finished in 23rd place (1st in Division I, Group B) 2024 – Finished in 21st place (5th in Division I, Group A) 2025 – Finished in 20th place (4th in Division I, Group A) 2026 – Finished in 22nd place (6th in Division I, Group A)
Asian Winter Games YearHostResultMWDLGFGAGD 1986 - - - - - - - - 1990 - - - - - - - - 1996 - - - - - - - - 1999 - - - - - - - - 2003 - - - - - - - - 2007 - - - - - - - - 2011 - - - - - - - - 2017 - - - - - - - - 2025 2nd 8 4 1 3 46 21 +25Total - 9/9 39 27 3 9 334 81 +253 Key: OT = W / SO = D / Excluded Goals in SO
2025: JPN 3-3 KOR Supposed
Asia Championship 2025 – 2nd place 2026 – 3rd place
Honours IIHF World Championship Division I / Pool B Winners: 1962 Pool B, 2023 (B) IIHF World Championship Division II / Pool C Winners: 1967 Pool C, 1969 Pool C, 1982 Pool C, 1987 Pool C
Notable coaches 1962, Tsutomu Kawabuchi 2022, Perry Pearn
All-time record against other nations As of 24 April 2025
Team GP W T L GF GA GD 7 7 0 0 93 17 +76 45 14 5 26 130 176 –46 7 1 1 5 14 27 –13 1 1 0 0 24 0 +24 11 8 0 3 66 29 +37 47 3 4 40 90 276 -186 36 30 3 3 246 77 +169 2 2 0 0 33 0 +33 6 6 0 0 30 6 +24 4 0 0 4 10 31 –21 9 0 0 9 12 112 -100 34 19 1 14 147 112 +35 16 3 1 12 45 89 –44 1 0 0 1 1 7 –6 7 6 1 0 32 16 +16 8 0 1 7 15 65 –50 30 11 2 17 101 120 –19 23 2 0 21 57 138 –81 15 7 1 7 41 39 +2 35 17 0 18 112 102 +10 1 1 0 0 7 1 +6 35 10 2 23 92 132 –40 23 3 3 17 52 101 –49 1 1 0 0 44 1 +43 13 1 0 12 25 75 –50 10 8 0 2 45 19 +26 32 19 4 9 170 95 +75 10 10 0 0 68 15 +53 39 14 8 17 133 163 –30 42 6 2 34 98 214 –116 31 17 2 12 140 113 +27 1 0 0 1 1 6 –5 3 3 0 0 21 3 +18 5 0 0 5 12 39 –27 19 5 1 13 38 68 -30 37 27 1 9 207 75 +132 2 2 0 0 17 5 +12 4 0 0 4 1 44 –43 31 9 3 19 93 141 –48 3 3 0 0 62 3 +59 18 8 2 8 44 45 –1 12 1 0 11 33 103 –70 34 17 2 15 133 139 -6 Total 760 302 50 408 2 859 3 162 –303
Notes
All-time record against other teams As of 27 August 2016
Team GP W T L GF GA Battleford Millers 2 0 0 2 2 33 Victoria Navy 1 0 0 1 1 9 Pacific Coast Amateur League All Stars 1 0 0 1 9 10 Nanaimo Labatts 1 0 0 1 5 10 Chilliwack Volvos 1 0 0 1 4 9 Powell River Regals 4 1 0 3 3 31 Kamloops Cariboos 1 0 0 1 1 6 Central Alberta Hockey League All Stars 1 0 0 1 2 17 Lethbridge Maple Leafs 1 0 1 0 4 4 Regina Caps 1 0 0 1 5 9 Brandon Wheat Kings 1 1 0 0 8 6 Winnipeg Maroons 1 0 0 1 4 11 Kenora Thistles 2 1 0 1 9 16 Thunder Bay Junior League All Stars 2 0 0 2 8 12 Minnesota Golden Gophers 1 0 0 1 3 7 New Westminster Royals 2 2 0 0 18 6 Chilliwack Steelheads 1 0 0 1 4 10 Victoria Commercial League All Stars 1 1 0 0 8 5 Nanaimo Clippers 1 0 0 1 5 7 Portland Royals 1 1 0 0 11 4 Victoria Intermediate All Stars 1 1 0 0 6 5 Lethbridge Sugar Kings 1 1 0 0 5 2 Yorkton Terriers 1 0 0 1 3 12 Saskatchewan Junior League All Stars 1 1 0 0 12 4 Manitoba South Junior All Stars 1 0 0 1 2 7 Kingston Merchants 1 1 0 0 7 6 Halifax Canadiens 1 1 0 0 7 4 Grand Falls Cataracts 1 0 0 1 3 7 Bathurst Papermakers 1 1 0 0 4 3 Manitoba North Junior All Stars 1 1 0 0 8 6 North Peace River League All Stars 1 1 0 0 7 4 Prince George Mohawks 1 1 0 0 8 7 Penticton Broncos 1 1 0 0 6 5 4 1 0 3 1 16 1 0 0 1 2 9 2 0 0 2 5 16 1 1 0 0 4 3 Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs 1 0 0 1 4 5 Western Michigan Broncos 1 0 0 1 4 9 Spartak Moscow 1 0 0 1 2 13 Saskatchewan Huskies 1 0 0 1 2 7 Michigan Tech Huskies 1 0 0 1 4 6 Alaska Gold Kings 1 1 0 0 4 1 Amur Khabarovsk 15 1 1 13 13 60 2 0 0 2 2 17 2 0 0 2 3 13 1 0 1 0 4 4 1 0 0 1 1 4 Japan All Stars 1 0 0 1 5 6 Tappara 1 0 0 1 3 6 TPS Turku 1 0 0 1 4 5 Malmö Redhawks 1 0 0 1 2 3 Schwenninger Wild Wings 1 0 0 1 2 5 EV Zug 1 1 0 0 5 2 Krefeld Pinguine 1 0 0 1 2 7 Modo Hockey 1 0 0 1 3 4 Augsburger Panther 2 0 0 2 3 6 HC Lugano 1 1 0 0 5 2 2 1 0 1 4 9 Qiqihar 2 0 0 2 5 22 Khabarovsk 1 0 0 1 3 5 HC Pardubice 1 0 0 1 2 5 Saint Georges Garaga 1 0 0 1 2 3 Île-des-Chênes North Stars 1 1 0 0 4 1 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2 1 0 1 3 6 Mid-West Islanders 2 2 0 0 13 3 HKm Zvolen 1 0 1 0 3 3 Frankfurt Lions 1 0 1 0 2 2 Amurskie Tigry 1 1 0 0 4 3 PSK Sakhalin 1 1 0 0 4 1 Straubing Tigers 1 0 0 1 1 3 Kölner Haie 1 0 0 1 1 5 Düsseldorfer EG 1 0 0 1 1 2 Total 106 30 5 71 347 608
See also All Japan Ice hockey Championship Japan men's national junior ice hockey team Japan men's national under-18 ice hockey team Japan women's national ice hockey team
References
External links
IIHF profile National Teams of Ice Hockey