Japan national football team
Japan is the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited in both 1999 and 2011. However, Japan declined their invitation on 16 May 2011, after events related to the difficulty of releasing some Japanese players from European teams to play as replacements. On 17 May 2011, CONMEBOL invited Costa Rica to replace Japan in the competition; the Costa Rican Football Federation accepted their invitation later that day.
Modern history of American football
The Japan American Football Association was founded by educator and Anglican Church in Japan lay missionary Paul Rusch in 1934 with three collegiate teams: Rikkyo, Meiji and Waseda. In 1937, an allstar game involving teams representing eastern and western Japan attracted over 25,000 spectators. Recently, the Rice Bowl has drawn crowds of over 60,000.