Men's Volleyball Big in Japan After Haikyu!! Success
Never doubt the power of popular culture. Just look at the children in the 1980s who enjoyed the movie The Karate Kid and wanted to do martial arts themselves.
Or in 2020, when the Netflix show The Queen's Gambit made people around the world want to play chess.
And you can add something else to that list — because in Japan, men's volleyball is said to have grown in popularity because of Haikyu!!, a popular manga and anime series.
The story follows a high school volleyball player who succeeds even though he's not very tall.
The manga series, by Haruichi Furudate, was first published in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2012. A TV series came out in 2014, and there have been five movies — most recently Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, which has made nearly $70 million in Japan since its release in February.
And according to official data, there has been a 43% increase in the number of high school boys joining volleyball clubs since 2012.
Agence France Presse spoke to a number of young players and fans in Japan, with some saying their interest in the sport came from Haikyu!!
Fans say Haikyu!! isn't just good entertainment — it's realistic too. Members of Japan's men's national team have even said they've tried to copy moves they saw in the manga!
And the men's national team has been doing well. At the end of May this year, it was ranked third in the world, behind only Poland and the US.
Women's volleyball exploded in popularity in Japan after the women's national team won gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. And with the Olympics coming in Paris this summer, the men may now have a chance to do the same.
