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Two Japanese Boys Chosen for 2nd Slam Dunk Scholarship
posted on by Egan Loo
The Slam Dunk Scholarship, a program organized by the Slam Dunk basketball manga author Takehiko Inoue, selected Japanese high school seniors Daichi Taniguchi and Jimmy Hayakawa as the winners of its second annual competition last week. As part of the scholarship program, Taniguchi (pictured at right) and Hayakawa (pictured at left) will attend the South Kent college preparatory school in Connecticut from April of 2009 to May of 2010. The students' transportation, tuition, and living expenses are covered during their time in the United States. Inoue sponsors the scholarship with his I.T. Planning studio and his Slam Dunk publisher Shueisha.
Taniguchi is the center of Rakunan High School's basketball team in Kyoto in central Japan, while Hayakawa hails from Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Fukuoka in southern Japan. Narito Namizato won The First Slam Dunk Scholarship last year. So far, the only Japanese native to play in North America's National Basketball Association is Yuta Tabuse (Phoenix Suns, 2004).
Viz Media is publishing the Slam Dunk manga in North America.
Source: The Kyoto Shimbun
