"Hard work, every day."
Huge orange banners bearing this phrase hang majestically on the walls and from the ceiling of the Nikko Kirifuri Ice Arena, the home of the Nikko Ice Bucks hockey club.
The motto may sound like a cliche for a sports team, but it's no exaggeration for this club. The professional ice hockey franchise, based in the calm, historic town in Tochigi Prefecture, about 120 km northeast of Tokyo, has no time to rest in its quest to be the leading team in Japan and Asia.