It's a national team with strong contenders in certain events and gaping holes elsewhere. The women's racewalk squad is very thin at only one entrant and no women are competing in any jumps, while no Japanese men are entered in the 5000 m or 10000 m. All the development in men's distance seems to be channelled into the marathon, where Japan may have one of its best gold medal chances in 2:06:54 man Hiroto Inoue. No Japanese man has won gold in the marathon at the Asian Games since Takayuki Nakayama set the still-standing Games record of 2:08:21 at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. Given the heat and humidity of Jakarta Inoue is unlikely to touch that kind of time, but his chances of ending Japan winless streak look good.
Other medal contenders include 2017 Dongguan Asian Marathon Championships silver medalist Keiko Nogami in the women's marathon, the men's 4x100 m relay including most of its members in the individual 100 m and 200 m, Takatoshi Abe in the men's 400 m hurdles, Naoto Tobe in the men's high jump hot off a 4th-place Diamond League placing, and most of the men's racewalk contingent. Keisuke Ushiro returns to the decathlon as the only defending individual gold medalist on the Japanese team, the men's 4x400 m relay team also set to defend.
For both Inoue and Nogami as well as their marathon teammates Hanae Tanaka and Hayato Sonoda, their strongest Asian competition comes from North Korea, including Dongguan women's bronze medalist Un Ok Jo and Rio Olympics 10th-placer Hye Song Kim, while the color of their medal depends largely on how the Africans running for Bahrain fare. Likewise for the women's long distance trio on the track and men's 3000 mSC national champion Kazuya Shiojiri.
2018 Jakarta Asian Games Japanese National Team
Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 25-Aug. 30Women
SprintsChisato Fukushima (Seiko) - 100 m: 11.42 200 m: 23.35
Kana Ichikawa (Mizuno) - 100 m: 11.43
Nodoka Seko (Crane) - 100 m: 11.50 (relay)
Midori Mikase (Eniwa Kita H.S.) - 100 m: 11.63 (relay)
Ayaka Kawata (Higashi Osaka Univ.) - 400 m: 53.50
Middle Distance
Yume Kitamura (Edion) - 800 m: 2:02.54
Ayano Shiomi (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 800 m: 2:02.73
Long Distance
Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) - 5000 m: 15:10.91
Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 5000 m: 15:21.31
Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 10000 m: 32:05.52
Hurdles
Masumi Aoki (Junanaju Ginko) - 100 mH: 13.18
Hitomi Shimura (Toho Ginko) - 100 mH: 13.18
Eri Utsunomiya (Hasegawa Taiiku Shisetsu) - 400 mH; 56.84
Yukari Ishizawa (Edion) - 3000 mSC: 9:53.22
Throws
Hitomi Katsuyama (Orico) - hammer throw: 65.32 m
Akane Watanabe (Maruwa Unyukikan) - hammer throw: 65.24 m
Risa Miyashita (Osaka Taiiku Univ. TC) - javelin throw: 60.71 m
Marina Saito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - javelin throw: 59.60 m
Heptathlon
Yuki Yamasaki (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 5836
Meg Hemphill (Chuo Univ.) - 5766
Marathon
Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) - 2:26:19 (Osaka Women's 2017)
Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) - 2:26:33 (Nagoya Women's 2018)
Race Walks
Kumiko Okada (Bic Camera) - 20 km: 1:29:40
Men
SprintsRyota Yamagata (Seiko) - 100 m: 10.05
Aska Cambridge (Nike) - 100 m: 10.12
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 200 m: 20.34
Yuki Koike (ANA) - 200 m: 20.42
Julian Walsh (Toyo Univ.) - 400 m: 45.63
Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 100 m: 10.15 (relay)
Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - 100 m: 10.22 (relay)
Jun Yamashita (Tsukuba Univ.) - 200 m: 20.46 (relay)
Jun Kimura (Osaka Gas) - 400 m: 46.08 (relay)
Middle Distance
Takumi Murashima (Fukui Pref. Sports Assoc.) - 800 m: 1:47.01
Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 800 m: 1:47.16
Ryoji Tatezawa (Tokai Univ.) - 1500 m: 3:40.49
Hurdles
Taio Kanai (Fukui Pref. Sports Assoc.) - 110 mH: 13.36
Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) - 110 mH: 13.46
Takatoshi Abe (Descente TC) - 400 mH: 48.68
Takayuki Kishimoto (Fujitsu) - 400 mH: 49.30
Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) - 3000 mSC: 8:29.14
Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) - 3000 mSC: 8:34.40
Jumps
Naoto Tobe (Tsukuba TP) - high jump: 2.30 m
Takashi Eto (Ajinomoto AGF) - high jump: 2.25 m
Seito Yamamoto (Toyota) - pole vault: 5.70 m
Kosei Takekawa (Tsukuba Univ.) - pole valut: 5.60 m
Yuki Hashioka (Nihon Univ.) - long jump: 8.09 m
Shotaro Shiroyama (Zenrin) - long jump: 7.95 m
Kohei Yamashita (ANA) - triple jump: 16.59 m
Throws
Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - discus throw: 62.16 m
Ryohei Arai (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - javelin throw: 80.60 m
Decathlon
Keisuke Ushiro (Kokushikan Club) - 7948
Akihiko Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 7849
Marathon
Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) - 2:06:54 (Tokyo 2018)
Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:09:34 (Beppu-Oita 2018)
Race Walks
Eiki Takahashi (Fujitsu) - 20 km: 1:17:26
Toshikazu Yamanishi (Kyoto Univ.) - 20 km: 1:17:41
Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) - 50 km: 3:43:03
Hayato Katsuki (SDF Academy) - 50 km: 3:44:31
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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