Japan at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Following Japan's poor showing during its Olympic debut at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, Japan planned for increased participation and the discipline of its athletes in the 1916 Summer Olympics planned for Berlin, Germany (which was subsequently cancelled by World War I. Japan also expanded its participation in international sporting events, by competing in the Far Eastern Games held in Manila in 1913, Shanghai in 1915, Tokyo in 1917 and Manila in 1919. By the time of the 1920 Olympics, Japan was able to field a fifteen-man team. Although most of its track-and-field runners and swimmers failed to pass the initial heats, Japan did considerably better in tennis, securing its first Olympic medals. However, the Japan Amateur Athletic Association, which sponsored the team, grossly underestimated the costs of journey, and was unable to pay for the team's return from Belgium. Local representatives of the Mitsubishi and Mitsui zaibatsu agreed to pay the $15,000 necessary for the stranded team to come home, but the embarrassment was so great that the Japanese government agreed to provide subsidies for future Olympic participation.[1]

11 athletes represented Japan in 1920. It was the nation's second appearance in athletics, having competed in the sport both times Japan had appeared at the Olympics. Japan continued to seek its first medals in the sport unsuccessfully, with a 12th-place finish in the decathlon the best result of the Games for Japanese athletes.

Ranks given are within the heat.

Two tennis players, both men, competed for Japan in 1920. It was the nation's debut in the sport. Kumagae took the men's singles silver medal, and the pair also took silver in the men's doubles. The two would have faced each other in the quarterfinals of the singles tournament had Kashio advanced that far, so could not have won any more than the two medals they did win.

Player	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals	Rank
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Seiichiro Kashio	Men's singles	Bye	Tegner (DEN) W 6–3, 6–1, 6–2	Dodd (RSA) L 6–3, 4–6, 6–2, 3–6, 6–1	Did not advance			9
Ichiya Kumagae	Men's singles	Alonso (ESP) W 7–5, 6–3, 6–3	de Laveleye (BEL) W 6–0, 6–1, 6–0	Lammens (BEL) W 7–5, 6–1, 6–4	Dodd (RSA) W 7–5, 6–1, 6–1	Winslow (RSA) W 6–2, 6–2, 6–2	Raymond (RSA) L 5–7, 6–4, 7–5, 6–4
Seiichiro Kashio Ichiya Kumagae	Men's doubles	N/A	Bye	Lammens & Washer (BEL) W 6–1, 6–4, 6–4	Norton & Raymond (RSA) W 6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3	Blanchy & Brugnon (FRA) W 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1	Turnbull & Woosnam (GBR) L 6–2, 5–7, 7–5, 7–5

Opponent nation Wins Losses Percent  Belgium 3 0 1.000  Denmark 1 0 1.000  France 1 0 1.000  Great Britain 0 1 .000  South Africa 3 2 .600  Spain 1 0 1.000 Total 9 3 .750

Round Wins Losses Percent Round of 64 1 0 1.000 Round of 32 2 0 1.000 Round of 16 2 1 .667 Quarterfinals 2 0 1.000 Semifinals 2 0 1.000 Final 0 2 .000 Bronze match 0 0 – Total 9 3 .750

• Belgium Olympic Committee (1957). Olympic Games Antwerp 1920: Official Report (in French).
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 16 August 2007.
• International Olympic Committee results database