Hitachi is also playing in Mito, which is in the same prefecture as Hitachinaka.
I missed that. Yes, at Adastria Mito Arena. Opening night! That's flagged as my only Favorite Arena at volleybox. Has good lighting and camera people.
I'm still working on the schedule and (for my own edification) am adding Arenas to the match days. I'll reign in my "fake" home comments if I can 
i would like yo know how hisamitsu will play this league after the really bad that they played last season
This time they lost shinnabe
It depends a bit on whether Foluke comes back. That will help. But they're still a good team either way. Imamura will be back. Fabiana is gone. Mana Toe is new Captain (wasn't Yuki's best work). Last season was just a bad dream.
Not really if you go through all the home game arenas/stadiums both men and women teams.
Someone is adding men's arenas over at volleybox I'm looking at, and yeah, many of them are dinky.
I'm looking at ja.wikipedia pages for arenas and I don't really know who uses the "sub" arenas and whatnot, or if I should take the fixed seats and add the standing or moveable to that. But they aren't as big as I thought they were. SAGA Sunrise is less than 3,000, as is Himeji's Wink. Okayama and Kurobe got it covered.
Mana Ishikawa has signed with PFU. She played with Toray Arrows 2015/16 - 2018/19 then last year in Turkey with TED Ankara.
I don't know much about her but I think she left Toray because they couldn't deal with having two M. Ishikawas.
Captains for 2020-2021
Three liberos! Not sure about Aimi Kawashima for the NoSmilers. She's got the Captain banner on the V.League site but that may be old and Okayama plays fast and loose with the Captain thing anyway.
Not really if you go through all the home game arenas/stadiums both men and women teams.
I'll check it out. As mentioned, learning about the Arenas is one of my goals for this season.
√ #14 Shiori Aratani (OH/MB) Retired 2020.05.08
Shiori is the only surprise. She's 22 years old, had lots of U-Squad experience and made the Senior NT wide roster at 20, but not again since then. She's probably got personal reasons, maybe a job, but NEC was not a good team for her to grow in. She never got consistent playing time. She transitioned very quickly from a kid to someone you put in when the team is in trouble but didn't have the oomph to get over the edge. She will be missed.
Well bless my britches:
She looks younger, happier and more stylin' already, although that NEC picture of her I found on the Internets is pretty nice.
She's listed as MB. We'll see about that. I'm pretty happy with Himeji's MBs as they are. Himeji needs someone on the wings who can score more than a few points. Shiori can play all three front line positions, maybe they'll play foreigner-free this year. That would be cool. Sure, they'd win a few more games with a 190cm import but who cares.
Hat-tip theloneracer
damn you 退団 
but this move gives me hope. NEC is ridiculous with their 9 quality swingers. A few more of them should jump ship.
One of my goals this year is to try and get familiar with V.League Arenas.
The recent topic of "Home Arenas" with capacities required or attendances hoped for reminds me that QueenPiccininiLover and I have been sitting here waiting with baited breath for the JVL to realize their new vision for the V.League they announced in 2017.
Among other things, one of the goals was to transition teams from "corporate" to "community". Ageo Medics were first out the gate becoming Saitama Ageo Medics. A little anti-climactic and no one else followed but ... baby steps.
Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Springs recently announced some nonsense about some entity called SAGA Hisamitsu Springs Ltd., Co., Inc., being formed to do something. They changed their logo, their mascot, and their web site address (now saga-springs.co.jp). And they changed their name from Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Springs to Hisamitsu Springs. No SAGA to be found in the name, the logo or on the jersey. So much for the "corporate" to "community" goal 
As for the "Home Arena" business, only the teams with a "community" name have nailed it: Okayama Seagulls have 8 Home games this season at Zip Arena; Himeji Victorina have 8 Home Games at Wink Gymnasium; Kurobe AquaFairies have 8 Home Games at Kurobe General Sports Center. (Kurobe's hold on that seems tenuous, though). I don't know what PFU is.
Trailblazers Saitama have Home Games in three different Arenas this year, none are in Ageo City and only two are in Saitama.
Poor Hitachi have half their games in their home town Hitachinaka, and the other half way up north in Akita Prefecture. PFU have half their home matches in their (presumed) home town in Ishikawa Prefecture and the others a stone's throw from Hokkaido. Props to them both for bringing the game up north, though.
Then there are the Dual Citizenship Teams: SAGA, JT, Denso, Toray, Toyota, and NEC. (NEC's dual life is still pretty much just in Tokyo).
Maybe the "corporate" to "community" transition was less about names and citizenship and more about handing out boxes of tissue instead of doing data input at a giant corporation. The dual citizenship players just have to do it in two places.
She is a BEAST!
And her connection with Cansu is a thing of beauty too... I mean, everything related to Zehra is a thing of beauty
I love it when Zehra goes for the angry lion roar after a good kill but she can't keep it and starts laughing
It's not a strict requirement. I think lots of team do not have arenas that have 3000 capacity.
I think most of them have the capacity, although some teams have a fluid notion of 'home stadium', but hardly any of them can put 3,000 butts in the seats. There were only a handful of matches that topped 3,000 last season. NEC v Hisamitsu comes to mind. The 19/20 FINAL had 4,500, the SEMI Bronze had 2,500.
Wait, why on earth 7 liberos? and why 24 players?
Okayama is a different breed. Not a corporate team. I think several of the players are still in school, and they load up the team to have more members to hand out kleenex boxes and participate in their volleyball classroom and community activities, etc, which they seem to do a lot more of than other teams. Himeji is kind of like that too.
I don’t think it’s fair to say Thai fans are jumpy. The only place I saw that takes those rumors seriously is here. Talking about Acharaporn going to Italy league is so outdated and not even funny anymore. And that is not even from a Thai.
Even in Thai webboard, everything is flying strictly as rumors. No one takes those rumors seriously.
Just saying
As a contributor to many Wikipedia pages who gets notified any time a change is made, and as an Mod at volleybox, and as a super anal dude who cherishes sources, I see it often. I think it's endearing, though. Thai fans are some of the best in the world. I can't say if they are more jumpy contributing to sites of (supposed) record than Lithuanians or the Dutch, for example, because I don't participate there.
No disrespect intended. I'm envious of Thai fans 
I thought Denso had 4T?
She announced her resignation yesterday 
I have never visited that site before, though heard it mentioned here often. Is it a site like wiki that anyone could just edit/add etc.?
Isn't there a price cap or set amount for the ASEAN players, especially first year players? Now if they come back the following year or have already known status like the fab 5, I can see their price tag wouldn't be that cheap.
Japan salaries are closely guarded secrets. No idea about caps.
volleybox is sort of like a wiki, most often without any sources, but everything is supposed to be approved by an Admin. Transfers are scrutinized more carefully. It's also a very Euro-centric site so Asian stuff is a little loose. Those rumors have no sources (not even a gossip page), so if they get approved by a Euro, I'll delete them until I see sources.
Thai fans often get a little jumpy with rumors. They also sometimes give awards to Thai players just for kicks just like at Wikipedia 
volleybox also just added rumors of Pimpichaya at Hisamitsu, Chatchu-on at Denso and back at PFU, and Jarasporn Bundasak at JT.
rumors are saying more than one JVL team are wanting Ajcharaporn's services next club season. It would be nice if she went to toyota and partner with Sorokaite. I think that'll be awesome. Hope it happens!
the volleybox "added by guest" rumor mill has Ajcharaporn at either Himeji or Okayama
I'd be very happy with either one of those, but Himeji is Himeji and Okayama doesn't do ... well, they don't have any money and I'll bet Ajcharaporn isn't cheap
More fun with player movement
Natsumi Watabiki
Misaki Inoue has joined SAGA
I am so happy -- not that she is joining SAGA but that she didn't retire (from Saitama). I've been calling on her to be on the NT for a couple years, joining SAGA is the first step.
I'm sad for SAGA setter Ayano Kojima, who came back from maternity retirement, but this is business
Nagaoka to the NT
http://vbm.link/40390/
I hope she stays healthy 
This OG cycle was supposed to be Nagaoka on the right, Kurogo on the left. Never happened (maybe for a moment at WCh? I can't remember). I hope they both stay healthy and we finally see it. Changes the team dramatically
Hisamitsu has changed their logo and mascot.
I'm going to start calling them SAGA (in all caps) anyway, even though it didn't make it into their logo. I want everyone to be from somewhere
I hope they don't change the color of their uniforms to the color of that bird
Sinead and 4t resigned from denso. There is a big chance that plummer might play with them?
Saddens me that 4T didn't really get a chance to play with Denso
