In the mid-1980s, Yusuke Sasaki and nine other students at Keio University in Japan decided they wanted to learn to play lacrosse. At the time, this sport that originated within Native American communities was mostly limited to Canada and the east coast of the United States.
Norio Endo, A&S '56, a Johns Hopkins University alumnus who was working in Tokyo, took up their cause and approached then JHU Vice President and Secretary Ross Jones, A&S '53.
"Well, the conversation was a surprise," Jones says of learning about the Keio team, though he adds that years earlier when he was in the army and stationed in Tokyo, he witnessed the martial art Kendo and thought it had some similarities to lacrosse.
Video credit: Renee Fischer / Johns Hopkins University
As a result of that conversation, Jones convinced Hopkins Athletics Director Bob Scott to travel to Japan. Scott was so taken with the enthusiasm of the college students that he sent men's lacrosse coach Don Zimmerman, A&S '76, along with four star players to Japan in the summer of 1987, shortly after the Blue Jays had won that year's NCAA championship.
Subsequent trips and training camps followed, with Hopkins women's lacrosse coach Sally Beth Anderson also traveling to Japan to introduce the sport to women's players.
Sasaki later came to Hopkins for one year as an exchange student and helped manage the men's team, and Endo became the inaugural president of the Japan Lacrosse Association. It's motto: "Lacrosse Makes Friends."
Having lived through the turmoil of World War II, Endo was committed to making a positive impact in the world, according to his son and fellow alumnus, Bill Endo, Bus '24.
"My dad thought that bringing lacrosse to Japan was an opportunity to make the world a better place by bridging the cultural divide," Endo says of his late father.
Adds Zimmerman: "These Japanese college students were just fabulous young people. They wanted to get as much as they could. You couldn't do enough as far as practice."
Now 40 years later, Japan's national lacrosse teams rank among the best in the world. More than 200,000 people have played the sport in Japan, with an estimated 15,000 current players. Japan will host the World Lacrosse Women's Championship this summer.
"Japan's lacrosse heritage or spirit always comes from the Hopkins DNA," says Sasaki, who in addition to being a successful businessman is also the current president of the Japan Lacrosse Association. He has continued to play an instrumental role in growing the game in Japan over the years.
Earlier this month, the Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team—fresh off its first-ever trip to the NCAA semifinals—traveled to Japan for an exhibition game against a Japanese team. The Hopkins men's team will visit Japan next year.
"Their college lacrosse system today is incredibly, incredibly robust. It's absolutely amazing to see their growth in the sport," JHU women's lacrosse coach Tim McCormack says. "At this point in time, they're competing with the best."
Endo reflects not only on the progress of the sport, but the special moments when as a child he was present as players from both countries first met and started this tradition and legacy.
"My father would be really proud to look back 40 years from when things started and see how the impact of Johns Hopkins has spread," he says, "how lacrosse in Japan has advanced, and that lacrosse will now be included in the 2028 Olympics."
