Why didn’t the Japanese world champion choose to stay in Japan, but went to Germany to develop?

Doha World Table Tennis Championships men's doubles final, the fifth game of the score was stalemate, Japanese combinations Tomaka Hashisuke and Tomika Daido tacitly slapped in front of the net. Facing Chinese Taipei's strong rivals Lin Yunju/Gao Chengrui, they fell behind twice and tied twice, and finally won the championship with a 3-2 reversal. This victory ended the 64-year wait of the Japanese table tennis team. The last time they won the men's doubles championship in the World Table Tennis Championships was in 1961. Just one week after winning the championship, Tomaka Hashisuke made a decision that sparked heated discussion in the Japanese table tennis world: to give up the favorable conditions of the domestic T-League and return to the German League One Oxenhausen Club

Horamiya Hashisuke has attracted attention for the first time. This player born in 2001 took the All-Day Championship as early as 2023 The defending champion of men's singles ranked among the top Japanese table tennis team, becoming the second male player to achieve this achievement after Mizutani Jun. However, domestic honors did not satisfy him. "To be honest, I hate being called the 'civil war king'." In an interview after defending the title, he bluntly stated that "the world ranking must be improved as soon as possible and prove himself in the international arena." At that time, his world ranking ranked fourth in the Japanese men's team. This "internal and external ranking gap" became the foreshadowing for him to go far

Although the Japanese T League provides a stable income and a comfortable environment, it may become a breeding ground for technical bottlenecks for players who are eager to break through. In 2022, when Yukiya Uda announced his joining the Bundesliga, he once said: "If it's just for money, Staying in Japan is easier, but I am only 20 years old and have too little overseas experience. I have no money at all, I just want to become stronger." This sentence seems to predict the choice of Hayasuke Togaki's choice two years later

The turning point occurred during the Busan World Table Tennis Championships in early 2024. When the agency suggested Hayasu to stay in Japan to develop, the former Olympic champion Hayasu Mizutani who was attending the audience refuted on the spot: "What? You won't really let him stay in Japan, right? He must go out!" This sharp evaluation comes from Mizutani's own experience. In 2003, he finally reached the Olympic podium through the tempering of the German League; Hayasu Mizutani's "wilderness theory" quickly turned into a real opportunity, and the Bundesliga powerhouse Oxenhausen extended an olive branch to him, and the club is to cultivate international football It is known for its star. Brazilian star Calderano and French main player Simon Gauz both played here. Although the Japanese T League offered better conditions, the household signed a contract without hesitation and resolutely embarked on a journey to Oxenhausen (a population of only 9,000), a small town in southwestern Germany. The impact of the initial arrival in Germany was far beyond expectations. On the training ground, the habit of European players' "pre-match reduction" was completely opposite to the concept of "movement before the game". "European players have little training, but they have reduced training before the game. I even suspected that at that time, will they really become stronger when practicing in Europe?" He was confused after his first Bundesliga trip in 2023. The difference in life rhythm made him consider returning to China during the WTT Tour. But the dilemma has given birth to a transformation. In the first half of the 2024 season, he admitted that he had never entered the arena with confidence, but he also learned emotional management because of this: "This experience has allowed me to master the ability to control myself, which is extremely precious." On the technical level, he absorbed the characteristics of European players paying attention to multi-ball training. Previously, Japanese players relied more on single-ball confrontation. Under the guidance of personal coach Hitomi Ueda, he transformed into a "tactical precise offensive" type player, and even observed the coach's expression adjustment strategy during key time divisions. This cross-cultural integration was fully demonstrated in the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships final: Datoshi Toruka's left-hand net front defense and the tactical offense of Junsuke Togaki constitute the technical basis for the gold medal combination

2025 The Doha World Table Tennis Championships in May became a milestone in Hokkaido's career. His championship with Toruka's Dadeon not only broke the 64-year men's doubles championship drought in Japan, but also injected a heart-warming agent into his new Bundesliga season. At this time, the Bundesliga pattern was shocked by the joining of Chinese superstar Fan Zhendong. The latter played for Saarbrücken, which was Oxenhausen's opponent in the Champions League semi-finals. The Japanese Table Tennis Association quickly launched the "Overseas Plan" and sent four players including Hokkaido and Toruka Dadeon to land in the Bundesliga in one go. The unique competition system of the Bundesliga further strengthened the confrontation. As the only professional league in the world that prohibits players from participating in cross-leagues, players can only focus on Bundesliga events from August to May of the following year, which means that Hokkaido has frequently encountered top players such as Fan Zhendong for 9 months. Japanese media The physical body is full of expectations: "People who have been paying attention to Japanese sports for a long time understand that their learning ability ranks among the best in the world." When Fan Zhendong brought the Chinese table tennis system into the training hall, the tulips won not only the opportunity to confront each other, but also the opportunity to "decode" the world's top technology at close range. The choice of tulips is not an isolated case. From Hamamoto's naturalization from Austria to Yukiya Uda's "not for money and growth" to Germany, Japanese players are actively breaking out of their comfort zone and regarding the European League as a springboard for technological leaps. Behind this flow is a microcosm of the fierce competition in the Japanese table tennis world. The domestic T-League is limited, and new generation players continue to emerge, just as the strengthening minister of the Japanese Table Tennis Association said: "The world ranking is 50." Players outside the position do not have the opportunity to compete in international competitions in Japan, but may become aces in other countries”

Looking deeper, this transnational mobility is reshaping the globalization picture of table tennis. The tactical freedom of European clubs has a chemical reaction with the systematic training in Asia. The daily discussion of players in different schools has given rise to technological innovation. Fu Yong (formerly Chinese national table tennis player) tailored multi-ball training for him, which is an example of the integration of Asian and European technical concepts. When Hugo in Brazil, Fan Zhendong of China, and Hushang in Japan compete in the German league, table tennis is breaking through the traditional paradigm of "national team confrontation" and entering a richer era of "club globalization"