Today's team takes us to Nishinomiya and Koshien Stadium, home of Japan's world-famous high school baseball tournaments. Turns out, Koshien also happens to host the Koshien Bowl, Japan's college football championship game, and Nishinomiya is also home to Kwansei Gakuin University, one of the most prestigious football programs in the nation. Hanshin is the name for the Osaka-Kobe region, which includes Nishinomiya, and is also the name of NPB's Tigers, although they were named after their owner, Hanshin Electric Railway. Anyway, to fit the tradition of Koshien, Hanshin's NAFL team is very classic, with a generic football name to complete the deal. Their colors are navy and gold, a spin on Kangaku's blue and gold color palette.



The Wildcats' uniforms are inspired by the California Golden Bears, with navy helmets, jerseys, and socks, and gold pants. Their road jerseys minimize the gold, instead using navy pants and white socks to match with the white jerseys. A simple Northwestern stripe serves as the decoration.

And there's the Wildcats! I initially wasn't planning on a Hanshin team to avoid the direct parallels with NPB but when I found out that the area is a relative hotbed of college football in Japan I had to include them. Tomorrow we'll venture to the NAFL's smallest market, but it might be their mightiest!

Chiba is one of the other cities on Tokyo Bay and has a history with pilots of all kinds. Narita Airport, Japan's largest, is located in Chiba Prefecture, and the city is known for its hanging monorail. The Pilots use a classic color scheme of green and gold, mostly because there was no other team that used green. The icon in the middle of the C represents air, land, and sea, the places where real pilots make the world move.



The Pilots' uniforms are appropriately simple. The team's logo is on the helmet and sleeves, and gold pants with a single green stripe add a splash of color. The three stripe pattern can be found on the front and back bumpers of the helmet as well.

And that's Chiba! I don't really have any notes on them as they mostly exist to fill a gap in geography and color. As an apology for missing yesterday, I'll post the next team immediately! Happy holidays, everyone!

Okay, I fell behind on commenting so here's a big post to catch up!

Hokkaido Frost - I think the logo is solid and it's cool that it works across multiple sports. I like the striping, though I wish the hexagon element was more obvious in it. The sorta faux-Colts style striping is interesting, I think you could really lean into it. Not sure how it would look "live" currently. (Trying to imagine the template on a human) It might look more like the Rams new set with the plastic-looking sleeve caps, which I don't love but maybe it works here. I think the uniform is solid but the number set doesn't match for me. I'm craving a "frostier" number system. Overall I like the Frost, they feel like one of those teams that are probably weirdly successful despite lower fan support and bad ownership.

Nagano Steel - Well, clearly this is my team. Lol. I want to love this set so badly but sadly I think this identity is the one with the most issues. I like the logo a lot. It's bold and brash and I think it works for an industrial team with a Raiders-type attitude. Where I think this one goes wrong is in the color scheme and lack of any contrast. Everything is gray monochrome. Bosack got around this by pairing a slightly off black (I would recommend #191919 or my old favorite #171819) with slightly blue tinted grays (particularly the darker middle gray which he used #7f888d) to give more pop while still keeping the monochrome essence. A splash of color could be interesting, but I think you could really lean into the scheme with just better contrast. I actually like the stenciled font in this instance. I think the striping is cool too, but again, it needs to pop off the page, or uniform in this case, and it just blends into everything else. I think a metallic grey-blue with darker blacks would absolutely slay if that was the stripe. I don't think you should be afraid of white either, as the away uniform looks better just with more white for contrast. I'm probably biased because of the name but with that dope logo I really think this set could be amazing with some tweaks. Hopefully some of this helps.

Hanshin Wildcats - I have mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, I like the color scheme a lot. I think the logo is cool in a vacuum. It feels angled and has movement, which is where I think you missed an opportunity. I'm a sucker for a big bold block number but I think this team needs an angled version of a Bengals-esque style number face to match the movement of the logo. You don't show the other side, but I would imagine the logo would be flipped so it's always moving "forward". I think some tweaks would bring it from a Cal look-a-like to really solid identity. Even with the classic striping, a la Steelers, it would still work as a team with heritage and a modernized identity.

Okinawa Knights - This team feels like the Panthers and Bengals had a lovechild and I'm here for it! I really like the balance of gray with the orange and black, not easy to do. I can totally imagine American service members rocking Okinawa jerseys. This one is super solid. Nice work!

Chiba Pilots - I'm def getting PDX Grizzlies vibes, which of course I love. I like the logo. I do wonder if the helmet application should only have one wing facing toward the back, but overall it's a solid logo. I like the uniforms overall. The jersey numbers feel too standard catalog. Some kind of thinner slab style number face would better match the C in the logo imo. I think the addition of the striping in random places is weird but unique, kinda feels like chest ribbons on military uniforms. Maybe they could lean further into that with captain's patches, team leaders, or some kind of career experience ribbon with "years served." Just thinking outside of the box. It would take them from afterthought to super extra. Def would like to see a yellow facemask. Overall, solid team.

Kyoto Monarchs - This team is clearly one of the cream de la cream of the crop. Honestly no notes. I'd like to see what a helmet logo with no white outline would look like, maybe a faux-back set? but overall, just a super nice team that would be easy to root for.