With star phenoms Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe on board, the Japan men's national team has gotten its teeth into its training ahead of the FIBA World Cup, which will begin later this month.
The Akatsuki Five assembled a dozen players to start their first training camp late last month for the quadrennial event. But they are now genuinely ready to tune up for it with their full, 16-man roster as the two young, NBA-level players have finally joined the squad since the ongoing training camp, which began here on Wednesday and wraps up on Tuesday.
"Both of them are cheerful," veteran point guard Ryusei Shinoyama said of Hachimura and Watanabe after a Friday practice, which was open to the media. "They are still young as players yet are working so hard. But we don't care where you are coming from and we have been able to create a good mood with the entire team. Our team's become even more cheerful than before."