The Most Popular Sports in Japan: 2026 Ranking

Japan is one of the countries where sports hold an absolutely central place in the national culture. Between ancestral disciplines steeped in spirituality and imported sports that have become genuine social phenomena, the Japanese sporting landscape is one of the richest and most contrasting in the world. Full stadiums all year round, millennia-old rituals, national teams reaching global heights, schools and high schools training champions from a young age: the Japanese passion for sport is a total social phenomenon.

Here is our detailed ranking of the 10 most popular sports in Japan in 2026, based on four criteria: popular and traditional impact, media audience, number of participants, and national team level.

10. Athletics: Running as a National Ritual

Athletics in Japan enjoys a somewhat special status, driven by a flagship discipline: the Ekiden, the relay marathon. The Hakone Ekiden is a university race held every January 2nd and 3rd between Tokyo and the hot spring resort of Hakone.

The broadcast by Nippon TV mobilizes tens of millions of cumulative viewers over two days, with audience peaks among the highest in Japanese winter programming.

In terms of performance, two Japanese women stand out in running:

• Naoko Takahashi. An immense legend of women's marathon. Olympic champion in Sydney 2000, she then became the first woman in history to break the 2h20 mark in a marathon, with 2h19’46 in Berlin in 2001.
• Mizuki Noguchi. Olympic marathon champion in Athens 2004, world silver medalist, and author of an impressive 2h19’12 in Berlin in 2005.

9. Volleyball: Olympic Heritage and Revival Thanks to Manga

Volleyball has taken deep root in Japan since the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, during which the Japanese women's team won gold and captured the collective imagination.

Very strong in schools, especially among high school girls. The manga and anime Haikyū!! has dramatically reignited the interest of younger generations.

8. Rugby: The 2019 World Cup Effect

Long confined to a few prestigious universities (Waseda, Keio, Meiji), rugby experienced a spectacular rise after Japan hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

On the rise, especially since the Brave Blossoms' epic run in 2019 (a historic quarter-final). The Japan-Scotland match of the 2019 World Cup was watched by over 50 million Japanese viewers, one of the highest figures ever recorded for a sporting event in Japan.

7. Basketball: The Hachimura Effect

Japanese basketball has undergone a true revolution since the creation of the B.League in 2015–2016, a merger imposed by FIBA to end the division of leagues.

Rooted among young people since the 1990s and the success of the manga Slam Dunk, now followed by Kuroko's Basket. Japanese basketball has seen double-digit audience growth in recent seasons, with record stadium attendance.

The national team qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics after a successful 2023 World Cup. Rui Hachimura (expatriated with the Lakers) and Yuta Watanabe have significantly contributed to the sport's media coverage.

6. Golf: A Massive Leisure Activity with 2,500 Courses

While in France golf remains an elitist sport, in Japan it has long since shed that status. The country has approximately 2,500 courses and over 35,000 driving ranges, with one-hole courses even installed on Tokyo's rooftops.

The democratization of golf in Japan is evident in the performances of Hideki Matsuyama, who in 2021 became the first Japanese to win a Masters Tournament at Augusta.

5. Martial Arts (Judo, Kendo, Karate): The Samurai Heritage

It's impossible to talk about sports in Japan without mentioning martial arts, deeply rooted in Japanese cultural identity and codified since the Meiji era. Several disciplines can be listed:

• Judo: created in 1882 by Jigorō Kanō, it is a pillar of physical education. Judo has been included in middle school curricula since 2012.
• Kendo: heir to the kenjutsu of the samurai. Japan had approximately 1.5 million licensed practitioners in the early 2000s, and an estimated 1.2 million practitioners in 2015 according to the Japanese federation.
• Karate: popularized worldwide from Okinawa, it was included in the Olympic program at Tokyo 2020.

Japan is the number 1 nation in the world in judo (absolute record for Olympic medals) and consistently appears on the podiums in karate and kendo.

4. Tennis: The Nishikori/Osaka Effect

Although imported late, tennis has established itself as a major media sport in Japan thanks to international champions.

Driven by the figures of Kei Nishikori (ATP top 10, 2014 US Open finalist) and Naomi Osaka (4 Grand Slam titles, former world No. 1), tennis is increasingly ingrained in schools and universities, as well as in the fabric of urban private clubs.

3. Football: The Samurai Blue Revolution

In three decades, football has become one of Japan's most popular sports, and arguably the fastest growing. The creation of the J.League in 1993 marked a turning point, and popularity exploded with the 2002 World Cup co-hosted with South Korea.

The manga Captain Tsubasa has shaped entire generations. According to a recent study by the Japanese government (MEXT and Japan Sports Agency), nearly 50% of Japanese people report having followed the national team on television or the internet in the past year. It is the most watched sport in the country on screen.

Recently, Japan was the first nation in the world to qualify for the 2026 World Cup (March 2025), thanks to an almost perfect run in the Asian qualifiers (including a resounding 7-0 victory against China). Furthermore, the women's team, Nadeshiko Japan, is the 2011 world champion and is still in the global top 10.

2. Baseball: Japan's King Sport

Imported in 1872 by American teacher Horace Wilson during the Meiji era, it has become the beating heart of Japanese sports culture over a century and a half. The Koshien high school tournament, held every summer in Osaka, is passionately followed by the entire country and functions as a true national ritual.

Moreover, the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) set an absolute new record in 2024 with 26.59 million cumulative spectators during the regular season, surpassing the previous record from 2019. The World Baseball Classic garners exceptional audiences: the Japan-South Korea match in the 2023 edition achieved a viewership rating of 44.4 in Japan, the highest ever recorded for a WBC match worldwide.

Baseball is the most popular sport in male school clubs, with several million licensed players and amateurs. The NPB consists of 12 franchises divided into two leagues (Central League and Pacific League). Globally, Japan is simply the best nation. Winner of the WBC in 2006, 2009, and 2023, Olympic gold medalist at Tokyo 2020. With the global explosion of Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers), MLB champion in 2024, Japanese baseball shines more than ever beyond its borders.

1. Sumo: The National Sport Par Excellence

Next comes "THE" most emblematic sport of Japan, one that transcends the simple notion of a sporting discipline: sumo. Much more than a sport, sumo is a Shinto ritual, a way of life, and a mirror of an entire civilization. To understand the full cultural depth of this discipline and delve into its mythological origins, we highly recommend discovering our complete dossier on the history of sumo, a journey into over 1,500 years of tradition.

Sumo is officially the national sport of Japan. Six major annual tournaments (honbasho) of fifteen days punctuate the sporting calendar: three in Tokyo (January, May, September), one in Osaka (March), one in Nagoya (July), and one in Fukuoka (November).

The public broadcaster NHK broadcasts all six honbasho live on television and radio, with cumulative audiences of several million viewers per tournament. Tickets for the Tokyo tournaments are now "as rare as gold," especially since the success of the Netflix series Sanctuary. Only 5% of Japanese people have had the chance to attend an annual tournament.

After a dark decade marked by scandals (match-fixing, stable dramas), sumo has seen a clear resurgence since 2017 and the arrival of a new generation of Japanese yokozuna. Onosato became the first 100% Japanese-born yokozuna of the 21st century in 2025, after several years of Mongolian dominance (Hakuho, Asashoryu, Hoshoryu).