Before the Ryukyu Golden Kings ever played a game and before Okinawa proved to be a terrific location for a Japanese professional basketball team, Cohey Aoki had already established himself as a fan favorite in the bj-league.
The league's first-ever All-Star Game, held in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in January 2007, included then-Tokyo Apache guard Aoki. Since then, he's been the only player in league history to appear in each of the next five showcase games in Niigata; Beppu, Oita Prefecture; Rifu, Miyagi Prefecture; Osaka; and Saitama.
Aoki, now the cornerstone player for the expansion Tokyo Cinq Reves, will make his seventh All-Star assignment — all starts — on Jan. 20 at Ariake Colosseum. He is the highest-scoring Japanese player in the league this season, averaging 14.5 points per game.