Guide · Japan
How to play pro basketball in Japan
B.League Premier, B.League One and B.League Next are the three men's divisions that replaced B1, B2 and B3 for 2026-27. This page is that ladder, the foreign-player rules the league has published, the salary figures that are actually in the regulations, and how a club is supposed to see you. It is for players outside Japan, including college players. It is not a tryout, and it is not a placement service.
The ladder, from Premier down
Start with the division that matches your film. All three are professional. None of them is an open tryout.
- B.League Premier (men). The top division. The league's format page for 2026-27 puts 26 clubs in two conferences, East and West, and gives each club 60 regular-season games: three games against each club in its own conference, one game against each club in the other conference, plus one more game against 11 clubs from the other conference. Our entry-friendliness estimate is 2/5. This is a job for players who already have a pro body of work. It is a poor bet as a first contract out of college.
- B.League One (men). The second division. The same format page puts 25 clubs in five regions (north, east, central, west and south) and 60 games: eight games against each club in the region, and two games against 14 clubs the league selects from the other regions. Entry-friendliness on our index: 1/5.
- B.League Next (men). Four clubs, a 16-game round robin, 48 games in total. The salary-cap system does not apply. Entry-friendliness on our index: 2/5. Fewer clubs means fewer foreign-player jobs, not an easier one.
- Outside those three. W League and W League Future are the women's competitions run by the WJBL. The corporate and regional club leagues sit under the Japan Basketball Association's club system. This page does not state an import cap or a wage for those, because we do not have a sentence from the organiser we can quote. A blank is a blank.
Each of those has its own page in the league explorer. The rules index puts the same leagues side by side, including B.League rules. The wider first-contract map, if Japan is one option among many, is where to get your first pro contract. B.League 2026-27 format
Who counts as a foreign player
The registration rule is the same in all three divisions. The on-court rule is not.
The format page says each club may register up to three foreign players, and may register one more player who is either naturalised or an Asian-quota player. A club cannot fill both of those extra labels at once. A game entry may include up to three foreign players plus that one extra player. The player-contract regulations say the same registration cap, and they add a national-team exception: if a registered foreign player leaves for a FIBA national-team window, the club may add foreign players equal to the number who left, up to two, from the day they leave Japan or join the national team until seven days after the last day of that window. Format: registration · Player contract and registration regulations (PDF)
On the floor
Premier's table allows three foreign players on the floor in every quarter, including overtime. The naturalised player or the Asian-quota player may be on the floor with those three for the whole game. That is the "on-court free" shape: the three foreign players are not cut to two in some quarters, and the fourth designated player can join them. It is not a rule that a fifth foreign player can check in.
One and Next allow two foreign players on the floor in every quarter, including overtime. The naturalised or Asian-quota player may be on the floor with those two. The old habit of calling this "two imports total" drops the extra player. Read the table. Format: on-court tables
The league defines a naturalised player as someone who acquired Japanese nationality by naturalisation after turning 16. An Asian-quota player has to hold nationality of a country on the list below. A player the league does not treat as foreign is someone with no Japanese nationality who was born or raised in Japan and finished both Japanese elementary school and Japanese junior high school. The format page attributes that test to the Japan Basketball Association's basic regulations. Growing up somewhere else and holding a Japanese passport you have not been granted is not this exception.
The Asian-quota list is a list, not a continent
The contract regulations name the countries and territories. A player who holds only one of these nationalities can be registered as an Asian-quota player. A player who holds more than one nationality qualifies only if every nationality is on the list, or, if one nationality is not on the list, only if FIBA has registered them as a national-team player of a listed country (any category except 3x3, and not in a naturalised-player slot). A US passport plus one of these passports is not automatically the extra slot.
- China, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Malaysia, Hong Kong China, Macao, India, Singapore and Lebanon.
The same regulations say a player who qualifies for the Asian quota may still be registered as one of the three foreign players instead. Once the club picks a label for the season, it cannot switch, unless the league cancels the Asian-quota registration. Do not write "Asian import" on a résumé unless the passport is on this list and the club has said which label it is using. What a passport does and does not do is path via passport. Asian-quota countries (PDF)
Roster size, and why the draft is not your door
Premier registers 10 to 14 players, and those players are pros, with narrow amateur exceptions for special-designated and youth players. One and Next register 10 to 13. One may have up to two amateurs. Next must have at least five pros. Those counts are in the contract regulations, not a guess from a roster screenshot. Registration numbers (PDF)
The draft is for players the league calls rookies. The rookie definition excludes foreign players, Asian-quota players and naturalised players, and it also excludes anyone who has already been on a B.League roster or an overseas league roster, including NBA Summer League. A college player who will be registered as a foreign player does not enter through that draft. Someone selling a "B.League draft slot" to an American import is selling a door the regulations do not open. Who a rookie is (PDF)
What the leagues pay
The salary system is a team cap, a team floor, and a basic-salary minimum. It is in yen. It is not an import price list, and it is not take-home pay.
| 2026-27 figure | Amount (yen, excluding consumption tax) | What the league says it is |
|---|---|---|
| Premier cap / floor | ¥800,000,000 / ¥500,000,000 | Team cap and team floor for one season. The cap page states the same numbers and says consumption tax is excluded and other taxes are included. |
| One cap / floor | ¥400,000,000 / ¥150,000,000 or ¥100,000,000 | The regulations set the higher floor for a B.One club holding a B.One licence, and the lower floor for a B.One club holding a B.Next licence. The public cap page labels the same two floors as full-member clubs and provisional-member clubs. |
| Next cap | None | The cap system covers Premier and One. The cap page says Next has no cap set. |
| Premier basic minimum | ¥8,000,000 | Minimum basic player salary. A contract that starts on or after 1 September uses ¥667,000 times the number of months, and any month with even one day counts as a full month. |
| One basic minimum | ¥3,600,000 | The rookie ceiling of ¥4,600,000 applies to rookies, who are not foreign players. From 1 September the monthly minimum is ¥300,000, counted the same way. |
| Next basic minimum | ¥2,900,000 | Same rookie ceiling, same "not a foreign player" point. From 1 September the monthly minimum is ¥242,000. |
| Star-player clause | ¥150,000,000 counted | If a player's basic compensation is over ¥150,000,000 and the player is eligible for an official game, the club counts only the highest such player at ¥150,000,000 toward the cap. The contract can still pay more than that. |
Sources: B.League player contract and registration regulations (PDF) · Salary-cap system. Nothing in the table is a US dollar figure. Nothing in it is a typical import salary. The council can revise the cap and the floor. The cap page says the revision is decided at the B.League board meeting held in December 2026.
Two sentences change how you read an offer.
- The player bears the tax. The regulations say tax on compensation and allowances is entirely the player's. The club pays in gross form, meaning the amount before withholding, and adds consumption tax. The club is allowed to withhold. The cap page says every player is on a gross contract, and that basic compensation includes all taxes other than consumption tax and includes the agent fee. A "net" number from a middleman is not this rule. Tax is the player's (PDF) · Gross contracts
- The cap is the roster, not you. Housing, a car and flights are converted into cap money when the league can price them: up to a 2DK at ¥80,000 a month for a single player, a 2LDK or larger at ¥100,000 a month, a car at ¥40,000 a month, a domestic flight figure of ¥500,000 a season and an overseas flight figure of ¥2,000,000 a season. A cash allowance is counted at the amount paid. Those lines are accounting. They are not a promise that your contract includes an apartment, a car or a ticket. If the item is not in the contract, it is not in the deal. Contract checklist →
Pay for the season has to be finished by 31 August of the following season, and the contract has to name the payment dates. Pushing money until after you retire, so it falls off that season's cap, is not allowed. If the contract is written in US dollars or euros, the league converts it to yen for the cap using the Bank of Japan's published TTM average, the midpoint of the 17:00 close, from 1 July of the season two before the contract season through 30 June of the following year. We do not run that average here. Ask the club which yen figure they are registering. Payment deadline and exchange rate · Article on foreign currency (PDF)
We are not filling the gap with a guessed import range. A reported range from a placement company is stored, and labelled as not official, on the Premier league page and in the salary table. Use it only with that label. It is not repeated here as a league fact. First-year salaries is the page for entry-level ranges in other countries. Women's ranges, where a source exists, are on women's salaries. The W League does not have a wage in the documents cited on this page.
Our index tags housing as "usually" included on Premier, One and Next. That tag is an editorial estimate. It is not a clause in the salary rules. US tax on whatever yen you are paid is a separate return: US taxes on an overseas salary. This page does not state a Japanese income-tax rate.
The agent's commission is still a contract of its own. Under FIBA's regulations the cap on agent pay is explained in agent fees. The league's sentence that basic compensation includes the agent fee tells you the cap may already be counting that fee. It does not tell you the club has agreed to pay your agent, and it is not a fee you wire before anyone offers.
Season calendar
The season is a northern winter that runs into the Japanese spring. Plan the window you can actually arrive for.
| Competition | What the league has published | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Premier regular season | Opens Tuesday 22 September 2026, Alvark Tokyo vs Ryukyu Golden Kings at TOYOTA ARENA TOKYO. 26 clubs, 60 games. Opening week for all three divisions was 22–27 September 2026. The cited pages do not print a single last regular-season date. Tip-off times for Premier games from 1 April 2027 were scheduled to be announced in late January. | Opening announcement · Opening week · 60 games |
| Premier playoffs | Quarterfinals 7–11 May 2027. Semifinals 14–18 May 2027. Finals 22 May–1 June 2027. Eight clubs: the top three in each conference, plus two wild cards from the other 20. Quarterfinals and semifinals are two games, with a third on another day if the series is split. The finals play three games, a fourth if neither club has three wins, and a fifth if that is still true. Games 1, 2 and 5 of the finals are at the higher seed. Games 3 and 4 are at the lower seed. | Schedule · Playoff format |
| One | 25 clubs, five regions, 60 games. Playoffs: round of 16 on 30 April–3 May 2027, quarterfinals 7–10 May, semifinals 14–17 May, finals 21–24 May 2027. Each round is two games, with a third if the series is split, all at the higher seed. Sixteen clubs make that tournament. | One format · One playoff dates |
| Next | Four clubs, 48 games. The format page does not publish a playoff window, so this page does not invent one. | Next format |
A European winter that runs from about October into May overlaps this season, including the May playoffs. Japan is not a summer league you add after Europe. The one-line note on the first-contract guide about chaining a European winter with a summer league does not describe B.League. A letter in November is a replacement conversation, if a club has an open foreign-player spot. It is not the start of the season.
Premier clubs that already have 10 players under contract through the end of the season may sign other players, other than U22 players, for 14 days or longer. Foreign players, naturalised players and Asian-quota players are also carved out of the default rule that a contract runs through 30 June. Short deals exist. They are still contracts, and a 14-day stay is still work. The regulations are the text. A group chat is not. Contract length (PDF)
The tryouts and camps calendar does not list an official B.League open tryout. If a camp sells "B.League exposure," read when a tryout helps and the legit checklist before you pay.
The visa, after a real offer
Paid basketball in Japan is work. The foreign ministry lists sportspeople under the Entertainer working visa and says the inviting organisation sends the required documents. A short-term stay of up to 90 days does not include paid work. The full sequence is the visa guide. We do not copy the fee. Work or long-term stay · Entertainer visa
- The club files. You need an offer an inviting organisation can attach to a Certificate of Eligibility. There is no honest way to hold the visa first and shop it to clubs.
- A tourist stay is not the season. Do not enter for 90 days and start practice. The same red flag is on the visa guide.
- Do not wire a "visa fee" to a person. The foreign ministry warns about fraudulent websites and emails that try to collect visa payments. Any government charge goes through the channel that ministry names. An agent who invoices you for the visa, before or instead of a contract, is the problem described in agent fees.
A FIBA Letter of Clearance is the basketball transfer document. It is not the visa. If you are already licensed to a federation, the letter is part of the move. If you have never been licensed, the letter-of-clearance guide says when you do not need one.
How to get seen
Clubs fill the spots above with film and a contract, not with a form on this website. The order that matches the calendar:
- Pick the tier your last season supports. Three foreign-player registrations on a capped Premier roster is not a general tryout. One and Next are still three registrations and a tighter on-court count, on fewer clubs. If you are earlier than any offer, playing overseas after college is the wider page. Best countries is the comparison if Japan is only one idea. Australia is the other country page, and its season does not line up with this one.
- Send the film package this site already describes. A short reel plus full games, in the form the highlight-reel guide sets, and a one-page player résumé with your real passport, your height in both units, and links that open with no login. Do not write "B.League ready" on the sheet. Write the league you played, and write the passport you hold today.
- Use an agent who can name a Japanese club, or write to the club yourself. How to get an agent is the process. The agent directory includes agents from the Japan Basketball Association's public register. Check the licence on FIBA's directory before the name goes on your résumé. A short email to a coach, with the résumé linked, is the direct version. It is not a guarantee anyone writes back.
- Time it off the dates above. The 2026-27 season is already open. A full-season conversation for the following year waits on the league's next registration window, which this page will not invent. A short Premier contract, under the 14-day rule, is a different conversation and still needs the club. The free Pro Pathway Starter Kit is the short PDF of the league hierarchy and the first two Playbook chapters if you want the wider map in one file.
- Read the offer before you book the flight. Yen, gross, what the minimum does and does not promise, housing, US tax, the exit, and who files the visa. Contract checklist → What you spend before anyone offers, including a flight you should keep refundable, is what it costs to play overseas.
What to ignore
- A guaranteed Premier contract, a guaranteed foreign-player spot, or a camp that claims the league will attend because you paid.
- A salary quote in US dollars that pretends the team cap is your salary. The Premier cap is ¥800,000,000 for the roster, not for you. The basic minimum of ¥8,000,000 is a floor under the regulations, not an offer letter.
- Anyone who says every division allows three foreign players on the floor. Premier's table says three. One and Next say two, with the naturalised or Asian-quota player allowed beside them.
- Anyone who says any Asian passport is the extra slot. The list is 14 countries and territories, and a second passport that is not on it can knock you off the quota.
- A draft signup sold to a foreign player. The rookie definition excludes you.
- A visa arranged before the offer, or a passport scan sent to a new contact. The visa guide is the line on that.
- An agent fee paid upfront to be "submitted to Japan." Once a real playing contract exists, the cap on agent pay is in agent fees. It is not a listing fee.
FAQ
How do you play pro basketball in Japan?
The men's professional league is B.League, reorganised for 2026-27 into three divisions: B.League Premier (26 clubs, 60 games), B.League One (25 clubs, 60 games) and B.League Next (4 clubs, 48 games). A club may register up to three foreign players, plus one more player who is either naturalised or an Asian-quota player, not both. Premier lets three foreign players on the floor in every quarter, and the naturalised or Asian-quota player may play with them. One and Next limit foreign players to two on the floor per quarter. There is no open tryout on this site. Clubs sign from film and an agent, after an offer.
How many foreign players can a B.League team sign?
The league's 2026-27 format page says each club may register up to three foreign players, and may register one additional player who is either a naturalised player or an Asian-quota player. A club cannot register both a naturalised player and an Asian-quota player. The same page says a game entry may include those three foreign players plus that one extra player. A player who is not a Japanese national, was born or raised in Japan, and finished Japanese elementary and junior high school is not treated as foreign. That exception is the Japan Basketball Association rule the format page cites. It is not a second passport you can claim from abroad.
What is the difference between B.Premier, B.League One and B.League Next?
Premier is the top division: 26 clubs split into East and West, 60 regular-season games, and a team salary cap of ¥800,000,000 with a floor of ¥500,000,000. One is the second division: 25 clubs in five regions, also 60 games, with a team cap of ¥400,000,000. Next is four clubs playing 48 games, and the salary-cap system does not apply to it. The basic-salary minimum, excluding consumption tax, is ¥8,000,000 in Premier, ¥3,600,000 in One and ¥2,900,000 in Next. Those minimums are roster rules. They are not a typical import offer.
How much do B.League players make?
The only salary table the league has published is a team table, in yen, excluding consumption tax. Premier's cap is ¥800,000,000 and its floor is ¥500,000,000. One's cap is ¥400,000,000, with a floor of ¥150,000,000 or ¥100,000,000 depending on the club's licence. Next has no cap. The basic-salary minimum is ¥8,000,000 in Premier. The league has not published an import salary band, and this page does not convert the cap into US dollars or invent one. A reported range on the salary table is labelled as not official.
When is basketball season in Japan?
B.League Premier opened on Tuesday 22 September 2026, Alvark Tokyo against the Ryukyu Golden Kings. Opening week for Premier, One and Next ran 22–27 September 2026. The league's schedule page puts Premier quarterfinals at 7–11 May 2027, semifinals at 14–18 May 2027, and the finals at 22 May–1 June 2027. The pages cited here do not print one last regular-season date. A European season that runs into May overlaps these playoffs.
Do I need a visa to play basketball in Japan?
If you are not Japanese, paid basketball is work. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists sportspeople under the Entertainer working visa, and a short-term stay of up to 90 days does not include paid work. The club is the usual inviting organisation. A tourist entry is not the season. This is not legal advice. The steps we can cite are on the visa guide.
Can a college player get a B.League contract without the draft?
The draft is for players the league defines as rookies. That definition excludes foreign players, Asian-quota players and naturalised players. An American import is not in the draft. The spots that exist are the three foreign-player registrations, or the single Asian-quota registration if your passport is on the league's list and the club uses that slot. Our entry-friendliness estimates for these three divisions are 2/5, 1/5 and 2/5. That is a scarce job, not a general first contract out of college.
The Playbook · $19.99 PDF
Japan is one stop on the list
Chapter 2 of the Playbook is picking leagues that match your level and your passport. Chapter 8 is the contract. All 11 chapters (the free Starter Kit is only 1–2) plus 30 days of Ask the Scout. One payment, $19.99.