The is the annual

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese high-school American football championship game. As with most American Football leagues, the league setup is split into two regions — Kantō and

Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...

— and the champions of each region play in the Christmas Bowl. It takes place on even years in

, and on odd years in Kantō. Since 2001, the matches in Kantō have taken place in

Ajinomoto Stadium , also known as Tokyo Stadium in AFC Champions League, is a multi-purpose stadium in Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The stadium was founded at Kantō Mura, the redevelopment area formerly used by United States Forces Japan, in March 2001. It was the fi ...

. Surprisingly, the competition has been going on for almost as long as the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

, being only four contests behind. The Christmas Bowl in the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

Eyeshield 21 is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. The series tells the story of Sena Kobayakawa, an introverted boy who joins an American football club as a secretary, but after being coerced by quarte ...

'' is based on this competition.

Number of participating schools by district

While the leagues are split into the Kanto and Kansai leagues, the leagues actually encompass the East and West of Japan, respectively. Teams compete in the Kanto and Kansai tournaments.

Kanto Tournament

* 4 schools from Tokyo * 3 schools from Kanagawa * 2 schools from Saitama / Ibaraki / Chiba * 1 school from Shizuoka

Kansai Tournament

* 3 schools from Osaka * 2 schools from Hyogo * 1.5 schools from Kyoto * 1.5 schools from Shiga *1 school from the Tokai region *1 school from Hiroshima The Tokai area is composed only of high schools in Aichi. The second place teams from Kyoto and Shiga play in a playoff match, the winner of which can participate in the Kansai tournament.

References

External links

NFL Japan
(in Japanese) High school sports in Japan American football in Japan Sports competitions in Japan {{american-football-stub

Number of participating schools by district

Kanto Tournament

Kansai Tournament

See also

References

External links