Shunichi Kawai

At 195 centimeters, Shunichi Kawai was built for the sport he chose. Born in 1963, he competed for Japan at two Olympic Games, Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988, and took a bronze medal at the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow. That places him in an era when Japanese volleyball still expected to trade blows with the world's best rather than fight to qualify. The second act interests me more, though. After retiring he became a sports commentator and a television tarento, the distinctly Japanese role of the all-purpose broadcast personality who turns up on variety shows, panels, and news segments alike. Plenty of athletes attempt that transition. Very few last at it. Doing so requires something the training gym never teaches: the ability to be relaxed and quick on camera while carrying the physical authority of a former national team player. A graduate of Nippon Sport Science University, Kawai has spent longer being a familiar face than he ever did being a competitor, and he seems entirely comfortable with that.

Name (English)

Shunichi Kawai

Name (Japanese)

川合俊一

Reading

かわい しゅんいち

Born

February 3, 1963 (age 63)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Rabbit

Height

195 cm

Occupation

volleyball player / tarento

University

Nippon Sport Science University

• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/shunichi_kawai_1/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunichi%20Kawai
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B7%9D%E5%90%88%E4%BF%8A%E4%B8%80
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7505069

Tags

• volleyball player
• tarento

Last updated

2026-08-07

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.