Japan appeared at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, but did not finish in the top four. In 2024, the women’s U20 team secured a memorable bronze medal at the World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship in Hong Kong, China.
With that momentum, Japan brought its senior women’s team to the 2025 Asia-Pacific Women’s Championship in January in Queenland, Australia, knowing that it needed the best finish outside of Australia to qualify for The World Games 2025.
Japan had already qualified for the 2026 World Lacrosse Championship as the host, and in the end, Japan showcased the best lacrosse out of all the teams in Australia, rolling to a fifth title at the Asia-Pacific Women’s Championship.
Japan rolled through pool play with wins over New Zealand, Korea and Chinese Taipei.
In the crucial semifinal against an upstart Philippines team that had secured it own qualification for the Women’s Championship in 2026, Japan showed its stifling defense once again with a 13-4 win.
Japan went on to defeat Australia 9-5 in another low-scoring affair to claim the gold medal, and for the sum of its efforts was named the IWGA Team of the Month in January for its successful qualification.
Through five games, Japan allowed just 19 goals, good for a goals-against-average of less than four a game. Goalkeeper Hina Uchida was outstanding in net throughout the championship and was named the player of the final.
The standout attacking trio for Japan was Megan Kitagawa, Ayame Mizuno and Miri Akiyama, with strong midfield contributions from Negai Nakazawa, who was named to the World Team at the Women’s U20 Championship in Hong Kong.
Japan will be in a pool in Chengdu alongside Canada, China and Great Britain. Competition begins on Thursday, August 7.
