[2][3] Japan is one of the few countries that fields both an amateur and professional version of its national baseball team.

The amateur team participates in most competitions, while the professional players are typically reserved for major events like the Olympics and the World Baseball Classic.

Japan has claimed victory in three of the first five World Baseball Classics, one of the first two Premier 12 tournaments, and earned a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics.

The Industrial League (JAPA) and Student Baseball (High School and College) had been run separately for a long time from before World War II.

These developments prompted the unification of the JAPA and JSBA into the Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ) on June 20, 1990.