Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2019-2020

  • There is a rumor that Pimpichaya might be the next THA player to play in Japan next season? I don't know how true or not, but would be nice for her to go outside the local league again. Chatchu-on certainly benefited from going outside and it showed this past season in the local league.

  • There is a rumor that Pimpichaya might be the next THA player to play in Japan next season? I don't know how true or not, but would be nice for her to go outside the local league again. Chatchu-on certainly benefited from going outside and it showed this past season in the local league.

    That would be cool but she'd be competing with Big Caucasian Swingers™ for the OP spot on a team. We almost had Hattaya last year but she had an injury.

  • That would be cool but she'd be competing with Big Caucasian Swingers™ for the OP spot on a team. We almost had Hattaya last year but she had an injury.

    I'm guessing if she actually came, they would probably make her an OH. Which is fine, she has been playing OH this past season and during her stint in Indonesia and did a decent job....unless she lands in PFU too, then I guess she might stay an OPP. Hahaha


    Hattaya has been working hard to comeback. I think she'll be ready to play with the younger team next year.


    A little clip of her this past season as OH. didn't do too bad, scored 21 points during this specific game.

  • Mari Horikawa is Retiring and moving on up. Will become Team Manager (whatever that is). (Nailed it!)


    Toray is also changing up Head Coach:

    Koichiro Kanno (2016-2020) will move up the ladder to General Manager (which volleybox calls a "Sports Director" for some reason).

    Akira Koshiya will be the new Head Coach (which volleybox calls a "Coach"). Akira used play for the man version of Toray Arrows, and has been an assistant coach for the ladies from 2012.


    Ai Kurogo is the new Captain.


    Something I didn't know, and can't be Google Translate sure about but apparently Hitomi Nakamichi, the crazy defensive monster setter of days gone by has been and continues to be an assistant Coach


    Source and Source

  • brahmin

    1. Do you know if V.League is expected to have the same Conference makeup in 2020/21? Or maybe they will rerun a serpentine kind of thing to change it up?
    2. Do you know anyone I could talk to about the V.League implementing the 9V's "Block Touch counts as First Touch" rule? I'm a big fan of that rule.
  • Retirement News

    Kurobe Aqua Fairies

    √ #5 Mayuka Shirasaki (Setter/Libero) Retired

    √ #7 Kozue Yukimaru (MB) Retired The girl who did cartwheels after making a kill block. Not gonna miss that



    Himeji Victorina

    √ #4 Yuko Asazu (MB) Retired 34 years old, MVP of Himeji's V2 Championship. A beast. Started with Hisamitsu in 2004-2011, Pioneer Red Wings 2012-2014, The NoSmilers 2014-2016. Retired. Came back to help Himeji take off. Didn't play much last season, just hung around to help focus the kids. Nice Career :rose:

    √ #14 Rie Takaki (MB) Retired 36 years old. JT Marvelolus 2003-2011. Buddies with Yoshie Takeshita which is why after six years of retirement she signed on to the mission. She's an "I'm working here" player. Tough as nails.


    Both of these players were instrumental in getting Himeji to V1. Along with Yoshie, Sakie, and Kyoko, they did their job and helped realize the Himeji Dream. Super big best wishes to all of them.



    Rie and Yuko

  • Every retirement post you do, are they all retirement or some of them are players being released but they will continue to play? There were so many :white:

  • So far 35 players and 2 Coaches are leaving their V1 (12)teams. One Transfer Hoper. This doesn't include the handful of foreigners who haven't officially resigned but are likely to. That's about 15% of the workforce. When all is said and done I imagine it'll be closer to 20%.


    34 new players have signed with V1 teams. So it's a wash.


    The V2 numbers for 8 teams are 32/30, although they have 8 Transfer Hopers down there.


    I don't have the data but I imagine it's always been about like this: 15-20% coming and going.

  • Every retirement post you do, are they all retirement or some of them are players being released but they will continue to play? There were so many :white:

    It seems like a lot to me too, and so many really fine players who are still early/mid 20s. As best I can say, it's pretty rare for a player to be released from or resign from a team and then sign with another team. It may happen for 5-6 players. There's only one Transfer Hoper in V1 at the moment so they're all gone from the game (except the foreigners going back home). I can't wait until next year to compare the numbers.

  • Sitenoise should work for the japanese federation. He is amazing. I can feel a lot of positive vibes in his topics.

    I wish the federation would recognize my positive vibes with a plane ticket to Japan so I could watch this stuff live <3 I would die.

  • Sitenoise should work for the japanese federation. He is amazing. I can feel a lot of positive vibes in his topics.

    sitenoise is one of the forum users I would love to meet in real life one day! He sounds like a very original guy

  • brahmin

    1. Do you know if V.League is expected to have the same Conference makeup in 2020/21? Or maybe they will rerun a serpentine kind of thing to change it up?
    2. Do you know anyone I could talk to about the V.League implementing the 9V's "Block Touch counts as First Touch" rule? I'm a big fan of that rule.

    #1 has not had an announcement yet.

    If serpentine based on final results.

    Star: JT, Denso, Toyota, NEC, Hitachi, Himeji

    Premier: Okayama, Ageo, Toray, Hisamitsu, Kurobe, PFU


    On #2 that is an FIVB call.

    sitenoise is one of the forum users I would love to meet in real life one day! He sounds like a very original guy

    then he's not worked for a Japanese organization then. Group think versus individual.

  • Does anyone know in which team Kathryn Plummer is headed?

    The rumor mill (volleyball.it) has it as Denso or Saitama. Sinéad hasn't officially resigned from Denso yet, but Keti has resigned from Saitama.


    As far as I know Japan doesn't have the equivalent of a volleyball.it, or that Brazilian Blogger dude ... someone with friends on the inside who mumble publicly ... so any early word is going to come from the outside. Japan is pretty tight-lipped about these things.

  • Keeping the Conferences the same might build up some rivalries, but I think switching it up would be more fun. If they do the serpentine method JT might have a tougher time because NEC and Hitachi are going to be killer teams next year :)


    I'm just being silly about #2 (Block Touch is First Touch). Challenges to it would be gamed massively. But it's very cool in the 9V context. Playing to 21 instead of 25 shaves a few minutes off each set and the Block Touch rule shaves another few. Every time it happens it makes the kill seem like a surprise attack. The non-setter who has to make the pass doesn't have to be that good because there's five people up front waiting to swing at it :super:

  • The V9 Youtube site has multi-camera HD Closeup matches ... from 2017. Everything after that is the single end-of-court camera. What is it with Japanese volleyball that "growing the game" coincides with lower quality presentations :wall:

  • S The V9 Youtube site has multi-camera HD Closeup matches ... from 2017. Everything after that is the single end-of-court camera. What is it with Japanese volleyball that "growing the game" coincides with lower quality presentations :wall:

    the simple answer is there are probably very few times that these gyms are only hosting single matches at a time. So in order to use the space efficiently you set up 3-4 courtS at the same time. And that makes it nearly impossible to shoot video from the side. Hence the end line shot.

    Fuji TV can at least put the popular teams on the outside for recording or broadcast. As tournament gets to qf then you can shrink to 2 courts.