Onward, Skylarks!

We are keeping up with the football fever in Philly via the internet (watch, this will be the year!) but we had some of our own here on Thursday. The occasion was the 23rd annual Rice Bowl, which determines the championship of the Japan American Football Association.


The JAFA began in 1934 with three collegiate teams. In post WWII years, the league grew as the popularity of American football spread. While it is still a very minor sport in Japan, I was surprised to learn how many teams are competing.

The JAFA has three divisions: High School (106 teams); Collegiate (220 teams); and Corporate (68 teams). The collegiate champion is determined in mid-December at the Koshien Bowl. In the most recent contest, Hosei U. beat Kwansei Gakuin U. 45-43. In the same time-frame, the corporate champion emerges from the Japan X Bowl, in which the Onward Skylarks recently defeated the Kajima Deers 24-21.
















This set the stage for the Rice Bowl matchup of collegiate vs. corporate champions: the Hosei U. Tomahawks vs. the Onward Skylarks. It was fun to watch (TV) even though either team would have been absolutely destroyed by, say, the Rowan U. Profs. The game was in doubt until the very end, with the Skylarks coming from behind in the 4th quarter to win, 30-29. The difference--in fact, the only variation in quarter-by-quarter scoring--was a missed extra point after the Tomahawk's final touchdown.

I wondered about the Skylarks' odd name until I found that Onward is in this case not an exhortation, but the name of the corporate sponsor (high-fashion clothing). Here is a list of the top-echelon corporate teams:

East Division
Onward Skylarks
Kajima Deers
IBM BigBlue
Penta-Ocean Construction Pirates
Gakusei Engokai Rocbull
All-Mitsubishi Lions

Central Division
Obic Seagulls
Asahi Beer Silver Stars
Fujitsu Frontiers
Nissan Skyliners
Tokyo Gas Creators (no kidding!)
Renesas Hurricanes

West Division
Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers
Naigai Engineering Marvies
As One Black Eagles
Iwatani Sidewinders
SRC Kobe Finies

My hopes for next year's Japan X Bowl: either the Marvies vs. the Finies or the Onward Skylarks vs. the As One Black Eagles. Of course, Asahi Beer vs. Asahi Soft Drinks would be worth seeing, too.

Thanks to the Onward Skylarks' website for the pictures; you can view it at http://www.onward-skylarks.com/