STORY
The dream begins with believing in yourself.
A beginner who spent high school in the cheering section, sixteen years a government official, and then — at 37 — the world stage.
A Story of a Small Island1:35
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TEEN
Started from zero
To commit himself to basketball, he entered Konan High School. A complete beginner, he started by building his shooting form from scratch — and rarely made the bench, spending most games in the cheering section.
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2000
Joining the Prime Minister’s Office (now the Cabinet Office)
Hired as a national civil servant by the Okinawa General Bureau of the Prime Minister's Office (now the Cabinet Office), he spent eight years in the Kanto region — in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki and at the Kanto Regional Development Bureau — and sixteen years in all working for Okinawa's development.
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2004
Finding freestyle
He started doing his basketball dribbling drills with two balls at once, and began playing around with moves of his own. Later he learned it had a name: freestyle basketball.
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2007
Winning the All-Japan championship
Champion of Japan. After reaching the final four of the national championship in 2005, he returned — winning the Kanto regional and then the All-Japan final to take the title of Japan's champion.
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2015
Losing his father
Three months after his father went into hospital, he was gone. JJ decided he would no longer put off what he wanted to do.
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2016
Leaving public service
He left sixteen years of public service and started Ryukyu Performers Connection (incorporated in 2018) to bring Okinawa's performers to bigger stages.
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2019
Winning in Las Vegas
At VIVAFEST 2019, one of North America's largest circus festivals, he became the first Japanese performer to win the Ground Act Solo category — and one of only three acts, out of several hundred entrants, invited to audition for Cirque du Soleil.
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2019
Passing Cirque du Soleil
The audition was held in Las Vegas. He was the only Asian in the room; everyone else was an acrobat, and he was the only freestyle basketball performer. He survived both days and became the first Japanese freestyle basketball performer to pass — at the time, only the second freestyle basketball performer in the world to do so.
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2020
Going for world records
The pandemic brought the world’s entertainment to a halt. “Times like these are exactly when people need entertainment.” He started going after GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles.
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2024
Record number eight
Spinning a ball on top of a 10.44 m pole brought his GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles to eight. The same year a herniated disc left him barely able to walk; he rebuilt his body and came back stronger.
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2024
Four yeses on Got Talent España
Appeared on the Spanish edition of the global audition show Got Talent (aired September 2024) and won four yeses — a unanimous vote from the judges. He did not advance to the semifinal, but even won a yes from Risto, known as one of the toughest judges in the world.
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2025
To Expo 2025
Performed at Undiscovered Gems of Japan Festa, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. The basketball he first took seriously in high school led him to the Expo stage, where people from around the world gather.
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NEXT
Next: ten records.
The goals are ten GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles and America's Got Talent. Less about what he holds — more about what's next.
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Bring this story to your stage.
In keynotes and school programs, JJ tells this journey — with the performance.
