Japan will compete in the FIVB World League for the 24th time in 2017, seeking to surpass their sixth-place finishes in 1990, 1993 and 2008. Last time out, Japan finished 11th in Group 2 and 24th overall in 2016 with a 2-7 record.
Japan won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, followed by silver at Mexico 1968 and gold at Munich 1972. Subsequent decades have been less successful. Japan missed three successive Olympic Games before returning to the stage at Beijing 2008 where they failed to win a match.
They failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games and also missed Rio 2016 after finishing seventh at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo. They also failed to qualify for the 2014 FIVB World Championship – the first edition they missed in 54 years. They had previously won bronze medals at the World Championships in 1970 and 1974.
Japan have been crowned Asian champions eight times and have won the same number of gold medals at the Asian Games.