With an announcement that it is bringing games back to Japan, the National Basketball Association on Tuesday showed that the nation is back on its radar.

The world's premier basketball league held a flashy press event to announce that the Houston Rockets, with last season's MVP James Harden, will take on the Eastern Conference powerhouse Toronto Raptors in Saitama in two preseason games on Oct. 8 and 10.

(Kyle Lowry #7 of the Toronto Raptors shoots the ball defended by Kenneth Faried #35 of the Houston Rockets in the first half at Toyota Center on Jan. 25, 2019 in Houston, Texas.)[Getty/Kyodo]

"Today's announcement comes at a time when there is enormous momentum for basketball within a thriving Japanese sports culture," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said via video link to a press conference in Tokyo.

"We've played 12 games there, including our first nearly 30 years ago...With our history and our shared vision we believe Japanese basketball has a bright future."

In 1990, Japan became the first country outside North America to host a regular-season game and saw various teams visit over the next decade, with the most recent game played in 2003 at the Saitama Super Arena, also the venue of the upcoming games. Since then, the NBA shifted its focus to the massive Chinese market, where it made huge inroads and built the sport into one of the country's most popular.

And now, as Yuta Watanabe fights to carve out an NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies and Gonzaga University's Rui Hachimura turns heads as he prepares to make a run at the first round of the NBA draft, it is Japan's turn to shine.

"We knew that there was tremendous talent developing in the Japanese basketball community," said Executive Vice President and Managing Director of NBA Asia Scott Levy in an interview with Kyodo News after the announcement.

"You have the B-League here in its third year continuing to raise the level...and of course we have the World Cup coming close and then we have the Olympics here in Japan."

Levy added that NBA teams are excited to play in Japan and are impressed with the "tremendous social media following" generating excitement about the sport throughout the country.

"They do see that opportunity, so it is on both sides, their personal cultural experience and opportunity to visit a country they have a desire to visit, but also they see as an opportunity to build their brand in a new country that they have maybe not spent time in."

The NBA's return to Japan is thanks in some part to Rakuten, Inc. The Japanese e-commerce giant has made a concerted effort to build its profile through sport, particularly with global soccer giants FC Barcelona and the J-League's Vissel Kobe, but also in basketball. The company's logo can be seen on the jerseys of the sport's most marketable team, the Golden State Warriors.

The decision to bring games to Japan had Rakuten owner Hiroshi Mikitani's fingerprints all over it, with the billionaire Japanese businessman saying at the event that his company has built a great partnership with the NBA. Rakuten broadcasts the league in Japan, provides an e-commerce platform and contributes in various other ways overseas.

"Japanese basketball teams are participating in the World Cup and there is a great momentum for the B-League here. Now we are watching the real games of the NBA this autumn, if we can have this real experience hopefully it will increase momentum," Mikitani said.

Understandably, Mikitani will be focused on ensuring the NBA helps build his business, but Levy said the NBA also wants to leave a lasting impression in Japan, an opportunity that was perhaps missed last time the league was here.

"We are focused on having the right partners that can help us grow the game," Levy said.

"There has to be an ecosystem for basketball to develop. That is why we were so encouraged when the B-League launched three years ago...(Young players are) realizing there is now going to be an opportunity to pursue a pathway for basketball from a very young age all the way to the B-League or to the NBA."

And it does not hurt that Japanese fans now have a couple of budding stars to keep close tabs on, with Watanabe already making an impression at home, if not quite so much yet in North America.

"I think a lot of young people are going to see his play and realize that they have the ability and opportunity to make it to the highest level," said the Hong Kong-based Levy.

"I think that is very important, but I also think that (fans) are following many athletes that are playing, and some of the players that are most popular here -- James Harden and Chris Paul -- will be coming out in just a few months."

Watanabe is only the second Japanese player to hoist a shot on an NBA court. The first, Yuta Tabuse, said Tuesday he is very hopeful there will be a third, and more.

"Several players challenged to make the NBA and finally Yuta Watanabe is now in the league, and Rui Hachimura is working hard in college," said Tabuse, who played four games for the Phoenix Suns in the 2004-2005 season.

"I am glad that young players are trying very hard to play in the NBA and hopefully those players will prove that Japanese players will be great in the NBA."

So with the men's and women's teams having qualified for their respective World Cups, in addition to them likely soon being given entry to the 2020 Olympics, and with the NBA getting an increasingly Japanese flavor, it seems basketball is on the up and up.

And maybe it could result in Japan also being given regular season NBA games in the future, something Levy did not rule out.

"We explore all different kinds of opportunities. Now that we have this long-term partnership with Rakuten we are doing more things that we have ever done in Japan," he said.

"Our focus was let's bring the NBA experience right away to the country...So we are going to start with preseason games and we will continue to explore many other things as we move forward."