Joji Katsumata

Joji Katsumata is one of those quietly compelling figures. Born in 1981 in Niigata, he was already over 192 cm in junior high, went on to Hokuriku High School and captained Daito Bunka University, then spent a decade in the JBL with OSG, Rera Kamuy Hokkaido and Toshiba. He was known as one of the league's hardest workers, and in 2009 he even switched his three-point shot to his left hand and made it count in a game. I get the sense he was the type of player who showed up every practice, did the unglamorous work, and earned teammates' trust the hard way rather than through hype. Cancer sign too — and whether you buy into that or not, there's something fitting about a tenacious, low-key competitor with deep roots. Now an assistant coach, he is someone worth knowing.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Joji Katsumata (born July 22, 1981) is a Japanese former basketball player from Niigata Prefecture who now works as an assistant coach. A 196 cm center, he played for Hokuriku High School and captained Daito Bunka University before joining OSG in the JBL in 2004, then Rera Kamuy Hokkaido in 2008 and Toshiba in 2011, retiring in 2014.

Name (English)

Joji Katsumata

Name (Japanese)

勝又穣次

Reading

かつまた じょうじ

Born

July 22, 1981 (age 45)

Origin

Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Height

196 cm

Occupation

Basketball player

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Rooster

University

Daito Bunka University

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8B%9D%E5%8F%88%E7%A9%A3%E6%AC%A1
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11400197

Tags

• From Niigata Prefecture
• Basketball player

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.