Handball - Team Japan

General
Japan qualified automatically as hosts of the 2020 Games and the team are making their fifth Olympic appearance in Tokyo. They finished 11th out of 16 teams in 1972, and improved to ninth four years later in Montreal. They returned for the 1984 Games, finishing 10th, and were ranked 11th on their most recent Olympic appearance in 1988.

Japan have never placed higher than 10th at the world championship. As wildcard entrants at the 2019 edition, they finished winless and in last place out of 24 teams. At the 2021 World Championship in Egypt, they managed to secure one win and one draw in the preliminary phase to qualify for the main round. They added one more win in the main round but did not progress to the quarterfinals, finishing 19th overall.

At continental level, Japan secured titles at the Asian championship in 1977 and 1979. In total they have won another five bronze medals and five silver medals at the tournament, including a bronze at the 2020 edition where they beat Bahrain in the third-place match. Japan have never won an Asian Games gold medal, but they do have three silver medals and three bronze medals. The team finished fourth at the 2018 Games in Indonesia after losing to Bahrain in the semifinals and then the Republic of Korea in the bronze medal match.