For foreign players, coaches and followers of the bj-league who do not read Japanese, using the league's website to find and compare stats is a difficult process, but it can be done.

The league's home page:
http://bj-league.com/bj/Top.do

A few things to keep in mind.

1. Print out a katakana chart off the Internet so you can get familiar with the symbols used for names in Japanese.
(Here's one of those charts: http://www.realkana.com/katakana/)
Learn how your name is written in katakana, and also for other import players in the league. Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) will be used for the Japanese, so you can compare those players' names with what appears in team programs and the league guide book. Familiarity with words like "assist," "rebound" and "foul" in Japanese will help you quickly read this stuff. (Hint: Think of words in sounds (ending in A, I, U, E, O) instead of letters.

2. This category lists top 10 in rankings in individual categories - points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, 3-point shooting, FG percentage, FT percentage, etc. (even minutes and dunks). This is on the top bar on the home page - fourth from left.
http://bj-league.com/bj/PlayerRank.do

3. You can view all players' game-by-game stats by looking at the team he plays for and clicking on his name on the roster - third from left.
Go here: http://bj-league.com/bj/GameRanking.do

4. For all game box scores click on the category below - on the left, the first on the menu bar at the top of the home page. Go here:
http://bj-league.com/bj/Schedule.do

5. Learn the kanji for each of the team's geographical names.
http://bj-league.com/html/teamall.html

In a recent interview, Hamamatsu's Jeffrey Parmer told me this about his team, which has won back-to-back titles:

"There's no doubt that we're very confident that we can three-peat this season. We're very determined as a team and organization to stay at the top of the bj-league."

The longtime Tokyo Apache player and current Osaka Evessa standout is the subject of today's short entry.

I asked one of his teammates this question:
Is Cohey the best Japanese player in the league, in your opinion? 

"Yes and it's not really close in my opinion," the teammate said. "I've been around and played against a lot of great shooters and he is one of the best I've seen. He is very smart on the court and is also a great teammate."

***
I'm a bit behind in statistical updates to this site, but hope to be caught up by the end of next week.

The Niigata Albirex BB made 12 of 16 3-point shots in Sunday's four-point win over the Shimane Susanoo Magic, and needed every one of them.

Coach Matt Garrison's team was 16-for-56 on 2-point shots. ...

Shiga's Yu Okada had the top scoring game among Japanese players on Sunday, finishing with 28 points and nailing 5 of 10 3-point shots. The Lakestars lost the game, 90-73 to the Osaka Evessa, who are now 9-1, tops in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

From Sunday's game ...

Sendai 89ers point guard Takehiko Shimura, a 160-cm veteran/team captain had 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals in an 89-80 OT win.

Impressive.

Seven players had three or more assists in the Kyoto Hannaryz's blowout win over the Oita HeatDevils on Friday. This is coach Honoo Hamaguchi's brand of basketball: spread the wealth.

It worked well for the Sendai 89ers during Hamaguchi's six seasons there, and in his first year in Kyoto, he has the team at 5-5 and playing solid basketball.

It's a long season, of course, but it appears the Kyoto players are responding to their bench boss's orders. And that 's a positive step as the third-year franchise tries to build a stable, consistent program.

Professionals teams are supposed to be able to compete for wins. But when a team is 0-9 to start a new season, with its fourth coach in as many seasons and coming off a 10-38 season in 2010-11 and a 13-39 season in 2009-10, there's not much hope.

And that's the Takamatsu Five Arrows' plight.

The team was competitive for three seasons, took second in 2006-07 with Motofumi Aoki at the helm and a number of good players on the roster. The roster changed, and not for the better, in each additional season.

The results are predictable.

And it's a darn shame. The Five Arrows are, well, the only game in town when they're playing on Shikoku island.

The team's bankruptcy paperwork was filed and then withdrawn a couple years ago, and the team was "saved."

But loss after loss after loss does nothing to attract new fans. It drives them away. And then the team has less money to spend on players, marketing, necessary improvements. And you see the results.

The bj-league has to realize that quality is more important than quantity. That's a lesson that must be learned.

The Sendai 89ers are 3-1 when Johnny Dukes has five or more assists.

Lynn Washington has four double-doubles this season, and the Osaka Evessa have won all four of those games.

Among the West's teams, Shimane and Ryukyu are 5-1 on the road to start the season. The Evessa and Fukuoka are 4-0.  In the East, the 89ers are 5-1 in away contests.

With a 3-5 start, the Saitma Broncos are on pace to have their seventh straight losing season in the bj-league. Stay tuned...

The league has a number of former Tokyo Apache players making an impact elsewhere this season while the team is out of action. A review of the weekend:

-Offseason pickup Masashi Joho scored 33 and 15 points as Toyama, a terrible team in its first five seasons in the league, improved to 4-4. In his Saturday outburst, Joho was 12-for-23 from the field, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. He's averaging 15.1 points per game.

-Five-time All-Star Cohey Aoki finished with team-high totals of 26 and 21 points as the Osaka Evessa won two road games against the Kyoto Hannaryz. He made 6 of 8 3s in the opener. He's averaging 13.8 ppg.

-Jumpei Nakama scored 19- and seven-point outings as the Shimane Susanoo Magic earned a series split against a tough Shiga Lakestars squad. In the opener, Nakama was 6-for-10 from the field. He's averaging 7.6 ppg.

-Veteran forward Shoji Nakanishi had nine-and 16 point efforts in Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix's two-game sweep of the Yokohama B-Corsairs. Nakanishi, was 3-for-6 on 3s in the series finale. He's averaging 10.4 ppg.

-John "Helicopter" Humphrey had 27- and 40-point performances for the host Saitama Broncos in a pair of losses to the Ryukyu Golden Kings. He's averaging 19.8 ppg.

-Darin Satoshi Maki had four points and three steals on Saturday for the Broncos and three assists on Sunday.

-Reina Itakura had nine- and 12-point performances for the Chiba Jets in a weekend split against the Akita Northern Happinets, and three steals in Sunday's win. He's averaging 4.6 ppg. Teammates Tomoya Nakamura and Kensuke Tanaka also made some keys plays over the weekend for the Jets, who are 6-2 and tied for first place in the Eastern Conference.

A crowd of 453 showed up to watch Oita vs. Fukuoka on Sunday in Oita.

This is a professional sporting event, not a backyard wedding concert.

To have a crowd this small, two things must be pointed out:

1. The team is doing a lousy job of promoting itself.

2. The league is also doing a less-than-stellar job promoting its teams.

A crowd of 516 was in the building for the HeatDevils' series-opening loss on Saturday.

***
Takamatsu, which fell to 0-8 by losing on Sunday, had 484 spectators in the house for its loss to Miyazaki.

There were 529 fans in the building to see a battle of two winless teams on Saturday, and the visiting Shining Suns prevailed by 19 points.

In the Five Arrows' eight losses to date, here's how many points they have lost by: 19, 20, 7, 38, 15, 15, 19 and 23.

It's time to either shake up the roster or make a coaching change. Five Arrows first-year head coach Kenzo Maeda's team is not producing results. It's a long season and the Shikoku club must improve immediately or suffer through its third straight miserable season