7: The Japanese Sport Industry

This chapter illustrates the significance of examining the development of the sport industry in Japan. Japan’s sports industry is both old and new. Sumo and judo, which are sports that symbolize Japan, have long histories. In particular, sumo is thought to date back as far as around the 5th century. In 1751, performances of sumo started to take place and it was around this time that there appeared what we would today call sponsors. In terms of ticket sales too, from older times there was a framework that corresponds to the ticket-sales agents of today. In such ways, sumo can be considered to be Japan’s oldest professional sport with marketing strategies, but it is unclear whether or not the people involved in it were aware that it was a business. Thus, it is difficult to describe it as an established industry.