Lacrosse Makes Friends

In the mid-1980s, Yusuke Sasaki and nine other students at Keio University in Japan decided they wanted to learn to play lacrosse. At the time, this sport that originated within Native American communities was mostly limited to Canada and the east coast of the United States.

A Johns Hopkins alumnus, Norio Endo, A&S ’56, who was working in Tokyo, took up their cause and approached then University Vice President and Secretary Ross Jones, A&S ’53.

“Well, the conversation was a surprise,” Jones says of learning about the Keio team, but he adds that years earlier when he himself was in the army and stationed in Tokyo, he witnessed the martial art Kendo and thought it had some similarities to lacrosse.

As a result of this conversation, Jones convinced Athletic Director Bob Scott to travel to Japan, and Scott was so taken with the enthusiasm of the college students that he next sent men’s team Coach Don Zimmerman, A&S ’76, with four star players in summer 1987 on the heels of the Blue Jays winning that year’s national championship.

Subsequent trips and training camps followed with Hopkins Women’s Lacrosse Coach Sally Beth Anderson also traveling to Japan to introduce the sport to women players.

Sasaki came to Hopkins for one year as an exchange student and helped manage the men’s team while Endo became the inaugural president of the Japan Lacrosse Association (JLA), with the motto, “Lacrosse Makes Friends.”

Having lived through the turmoil of World War II, Endo was committed to making a positive impact in the world, according to his son and fellow alumnus, Bill Endo, Bus ’24.

“My dad thought that bringing lacrosse to Japan was an opportunity to make the world a better place by bridging the cultural divide,” Endo says of his late father.

“And these Japanese college students were just fabulous young people. They wanted to get as much as they could. You couldn’t do enough as far as practice,” according to Zimmerman, who adds the friendships made have been lasting ones.

Now forty years later, Japan’s lacrosse teams rank in the top worldwide. More than 200,000 youth have played the sport, and 15,000 are current players.

“But Japan’s lacrosse heritage or spirit always comes from the Hopkins DNA,” says Sasaki, who along with being a successful businessman, is the current president of the JLA. He has continued to play an instrumental role in growing the game in Japan through all these years.

And this month, the Hopkins women’s team – with support from an anonymous donor – travelled to Japan, the host of the 2026 World Lacrosse Women’s Championship. The men’s team will go next year.

“Their college lacrosse system today is incredibly, incredibly robust. It’s absolutely amazing to see their growth in the sport. At this point in time, they’re competing with the best,” says Tim McCormack, who coaches the Hopkins women’s team and shares the commitment to promote the game in other regions.

During a scrimmage at Homewood this past fall, McCormack saw firsthand how the Japanese players focus on the quality of their shots and turnovers. Taylor Hoss, who plays attacker for the Blue Jays, echoes this sentiment, commenting on both the speed of the Japanese players and how shared affinity for the game creates a bond.

“Whether you’re from a different country or anything like that, we all come together because we love to play lacrosse,” Hoss says.

“Everybody in Japan is excited about the Hopkins visit to Tokyo because we know that Johns Hopkins is the origin of the Japan lacrosse,” says Sasaki. He adds that Japan has a vibrant community of Hopkins alumni in the medical and engineering fields.

“I am absolutely thrilled that the game continues at such a high level, and it’s been a wonderful bond of friendship between the two countries,” Ross says.

Endo reflects not only on the progress of the sport, but the special moments when as a child he was present as players from both countries first met and started this tradition and legacy.

“My father would be really proud to look back 40 years from when things started and see how the impact of Johns Hopkins has spread, how lacrosse in Japan has advanced, and that lacrosse will now be included in the 2028 Olympics,” Endo says.