Basketball day in Japan

Did you know there is a Basketball day バスケットボールの日 in Japan? And it is today, and December 21st, annually. The idea was proposed by basketball commentator Kazuhiko Shimamoto. Then a "December 21st is Basketball Day! Committee" was created and the anniversary was registered in 2011 in Japan. 

The reason for the December 21st date is that  on this day in 1891, the first basketball game was played which was invented that year, was played at a college in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. It was born from a challenge to come up with a ball game that could be played indoors in the winter.  Canadian physical education educator James Naismith (1861-1939) rose to the challenge and invented basketball.

The anniversary is intended to promote the spread and development of basketball. It may be part of the reason basketball has become so popular in recent years in Japan.