Japan national football team
The Japanese team is commonly known by the fans and media as , , or as abbreviated expressions. Although the team does not have an official nickname as such, it is often known by the name of the manager. For example, under Takeshi Okada, the team was known as . Recently, the team has been known or nicknamed as the "Samurai Blue", while Japanese news media during the 2018 FIFA World Cup still referred it to by the recently departed manager's (Akira Nishino) last name, as .
Japan national American football team
Japan won the inaugural 1999 IFAF World Championship and won again in 2003. In 2007 they advanced to the final, losing to the United States 23–20 in overtime. In 2010 Japan beat Germany 24–14 in the inaugural Germany-Japan Bowl. In February 2011, Japan bested South Korea (76–0) to qualify for the 2011 IFAF World Championship.