Nihibayashi Yasushi, who has been in Vietnam for 10 years, and who has worked as a manager at an IT company in Hanoi, as a weekly magazine writer, and as the representative of a local swimming school, and who is currently serving as a manager of an animation studio, talks about what he found in Danang.
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Watching basketball thanks to the movie
In December 2022, in Japan, the anime film "The First Step" was released.
The film "The First Slam Dunk" was a huge hit. When I saw it in a Vietnamese cinema, my honest reaction was "It's amazing!" This film took more than ten years from planning to completion, and its director and screenwriter is Inoue Yujin, the manga author. Moreover, the basketball players' movements are captured using motion capture technology, making them appear very realistic.
The quality of the movie is of course excellent, but I was also fascinated by the basketball itself. There were five players on the team. The game lasted 40 minutes. It was simple and straightforward, and the speed with which offense and defense switched every 24 seconds was impressive.
The Danndrangons of our town
As of 2025, the Vietnamese professional basketball league, the VBA, is in the process of holding league matches involving six teams based in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. Our hometown team, the Danang Dragons, recently played a fierce battle against the league leader, the Hanoi Buffaloes, with only one point separating them. At the end of the fourth quarter, the score was tied. After three extra innings, they were unfortunately unable to win the match. It was truly a lucky moment to witness this historic battle in the history of the VBA.
Danan’s home games are great for the team and the fans to bond together. After the game, you can even go down to the court area and take photos together or offer encouragement, so if you love basketball, I highly recommend it.
