This is the result of what they’ve done for us

As Naho and I, along with Japanese fans, began to voice criticism on Twitter towards the federation, they started doing a slightly better job than before we spoke out. But it’s still not good enough, even though the games are now available to watch on YouTube. Of course, the core fans will watch, but not many people would likely know that a game was even played. That’s why LIVE streaming is so important for any sport.

The federation uploaded the full match video to their YouTube channel five days after the game was played. Even if you watch the game on YouTube, there’s no commentary, no pictures or names of the starting eleven, and no details about the team or players to get to know. There’s no information other than just the game being played.

Since we knew there was no live broadcast or streaming, Naho live-tweeted during both matches against Brazil and the USA—something the federation should have been doing.

She shouldn’t have had to do that job, but what she did was send a message to the federation, showing them what they should be doing if they knew there was no broadcast.

Finally, they did live-tweet for the last game against Canada. Now we see they are capable of doing it, but they hadn’t done it before.

We believe that the lack of broadcast for the SheBelieves Cup this time is due to the federation’s inaction over the past 12 years in maintaining or improving our value and competitiveness on the world stage. We’ve seen a lack of effort in promoting our games and setting up matches in Japan, despite us having WON THE WORLD CUP.

We don’t want this to be misunderstood as just a problem this time around.

It’s a long-standing issue—things have been building up over time, and this is the result of how they’ve treated us.

After winning the World Cup, we always played with a sense of urgency, knowing that our popularity wouldn’t last unless we continued competing at a high level. We understood the Japanese mentality and knew that if we stopped winning, media coverage would decrease. And we felt the lack of support from the federation.

Between 2011 and 2015, we received a lot of media coverage. We were frequently on the news, and so the federation didn’t have to work hard to promote us. People generally wanted to watch our games, and "Nadeshiko" was popular enough to get views. But even then, the federation didn’t arrange enough games in Japan or set up matches on FIFA days.

This is the core issue: as former world champions, we haven’t had enough games in Japan. The public should have had more opportunities to watch us on TV, but most of our games were played abroad.

It wasn’t okay that we didn’t have enough games in Japan, but we were afraid to ask the federation for better and more opportunities to play. We thought we should have had more matches against high-quality teams, especially in Japan. Unfortunately, this situation has gradually worsened.

Then, after we lost the qualification tournament for the Rio Olympics in 2016, the federation shifted direction. They cut off the majority of experienced and well-known players and started building a completely different team and organization. Since then, we haven’t received as much recognition or attention as we used to.

Our Achievements Over the Last 12 Years

Here’s a look at what we’ve accomplished since 2011:

• Algarve Cup 2011: 3rd Place

• FIFA World Cup 2011: Champions

• Qualification Tournament for London Olympics 2012: 1st place/6

• Algarve Cup 2012: 2nd place/12

• London Olympic Games 2012: 2nd place

• Algarve Cup 2013: 5th place/12

• Algarve Cup 2014: 2nd place/12

• Asian Cup 2014: Champions

• Algarve Cup 2015: 9th place/12

• FIFA World Cup 2015: 2nd place

• Qualification Tournament for Rio Olympics 2016: 3rd place/6 (not qualified)

• Algarve Cup 2017: 6th place/12

• Tournament of Nations 2017: 3rd place/4

• Tournament of Nations 2018: 4th place/4

• Asian Cup 2018: Champions

• SheBelieves Cup 2019: 3rd place/4

• FIFA World Cup 2019: Lost in the first game of the knockout stage

• SheBelieves Cup 2020: 4th place/4

• Tokyo Olympic Games 2021: Lost in the first game of the knockout stage

• Asian Cup 2022: 3rd place

• SheBelieves Cup 2023: 2nd place

It’s not easy to build a team that can consistently compete on the world stage, especially against top 10 FIFA-ranked teams. We became competitive after many years of hard work, and we can confidently say that we maintained that level for about 4-5 years.

While we’ve gradually fallen off (not getting consistent results), other countries have been improving as well. It’s hard to analyze the difference between the two, but we can say that the federation could have managed things better. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to remain competitive on the world stage.

That’s why it’s so important to create value as a product, keeping fans engaged and encouraging them to support us. The federation should provide and expand opportunities for people who want to watch the game.

Women’s sports in Japan always have lower media coverage and attendance than men’s sports. Of course, that’s partly related to on-field performance and off-field efforts. But do people get enough opportunities to see how exciting our games are? And are we able to manage that appeal without being solely dependent on results? If the team plays an attractive game, people will still want to watch.

Setting up more games and getting media coverage should not depend on results alone.

From my understanding, the national team should always aim to win. There’s no game where it’s okay to lose. The federation should support the players fully, providing every opportunity for them to play in front of fans. Players should be selected based on fair evaluation, and the federation should ensure they maximize the chances of winning.

Players should feel proud to represent their country and take responsibility for the next generation. The role and values of being a national team player should be passed down from generation to generation. The federation must treat players with this understanding, knowing that the success of the national team has a huge impact on kids, younger generations, and the domestic league.

Players should show their value on the field, and the federation should extend that value to people around the world.

This is the bare minimum standard that the federation and players should uphold.

Attendance and Game Frequency

Let’s look at the attendance numbers and how many games we’ve played yearly over the past 12 years.

We generally haven’t had enough home games, and we travel a lot for international matches. We haven’t had the quality games needed to build the team and prepare for major tournaments, but we never made excuses—we always tried our best.

We’ve always wanted to play in front of our fans, but the opportunities have been scarce. Even after winning the World Cup, attendance dropped off after 2016 and hasn’t gone back over 10,000.

In 2009, we had only three international games the entire year.

In 2011, we had just one home game against South Korea before winning the World Cup, with 4,202 people in attendance. And we didn’t have any home games in Japan after winning the World Cup—a huge missed opportunity for promotion by the federation.

Here are some of the key attendance figures since then:

• 2012: Three home games before the London Olympics (USA, Brazil, Australia). After winning the silver medal, no home games in Japan.

  • USA: 15,159

  • Brazil: 12,862

  • Australia: 22,048

• 2013: Three home games (New Zealand, Nigeria x2).

  • New Zealand: 8,881

  • Nigeria: 15,206

  • Nigeria: 10,174

• 2014: Two home games (New Zealand, Ghana).

  • New Zealand: 6,685

  • Ghana: 12,288

• 2015: Two home games before the World Cup (New Zealand, Italy). No home games after finishing 2nd in the World Cup.

  • New Zealand: 14,154

  • Italy: 14,453

In February 2016, we played in the Rio qualification tournament in Japan, with five games in 10 days. Attendance was very low.

• Australia: 4,988

• South Korea: 5,605

• China: 6,959

• Vietnam: 3,418

• North Korea: 4,766

2017-2022: Attendance figures continued to fluctuate, with many low-turnout games in Japan, despite major tournaments and friendly matches.

The highest-ever attendance was 31,324 in 2004, for a match against North Korea. Since then, the numbers have consistently declined.

Even though Japan doesn’t have as large a population as the US, the federation could have done more to promote the team and increase attendance.

We don’t believe this is how a world champion team should be treated. The federation had the responsibility to raise the standard of women’s football, not just in Japan, but globally.