Baseball Federation of Japan

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Baseball Federation of Japan

Abbreviation	BFJ
Formation	June 20, 1990; 34 years ago (1990-06-20)
Purpose	Represents baseball in Japan
Location	Japan
Services	Organize Japanese baseball throughout Japan and overseas
President	Masatake Yamanaka
Website	www.baseballjapan.org

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The Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) (全日本野球協会, Zen'nihon Yakyū Kyōkai) is the governing body of amateur baseball in Japan. They organize Japanese amateur baseball throughout Japan and overseas. The Federation was created by the merger of the Japan Amateur Baseball Association (JABA) and the Japan Student Baseball Association (JSBA) on June 20, 1990. In 2003, there were 160,000 people playing baseball in around 5,000 teams across Japan.^[1] As of 2015, the BFJ represents six international teams: senior, women, university, high school/18U, 15U, and a 12U team.^[2][3]

The Industrial League (JAPA) and Student Baseball (High School and College) had been run separately for a long time from before World War II. In 1954, they formed the Japan Amateur Baseball Federation to organize and represent a Japanese team in the first Asian Baseball Championship in the Philippines. In 1966, after participating in six Asian Baseball Championships, the Japan Amateur Baseball Federation was disbanded and reorganized into the Japan Amateur Baseball International Committee in 1967.

Beginning in 1984, baseball was being considered as an Olympic sport. After being featured as a demonstration sport at the Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988) Summer Olympics, baseball became a regular Olympic sport beginning with the 1992 Games in Barcelona. These developments prompted the unification of the JAPA and JSBA into the Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) on June 20, 1990. The BFJ joined the Japanese Olympic Committee, International Baseball Federation, and Baseball Federation of Asia.^[4]