Toyota Motor Philippines partners with B.LEAGUE in celebration of 70 years of JP-PH friendship
Marketing Division Senior Vice President, Ryo Yokoyama, awards AJ Edu of the Gunma Crane Thunders with the Toyota Choice MVP award
Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) marked the 70th anniversary of Japan-Philippines relations by supporting the B.LEAGUE Manila Games 2026, a two-game series held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on September 9 and 10 that brought Japan’s professional basketball league closer to Filipino fans and showed how shared interests such as basketball continue to create new avenues for connection between the two countries.
The Manila Games highlighted the growing people-to-people ties between Japan and the Philippines, using basketball as another platform for cultural exchange during a milestone year for the two countries.
Levanga Hokkaido Forward, Gary Clark, shoots over Kerry Blackshear of the Gunma Crane Thunders
“The 70-year relationship between Japan and the Philippines has been built not only through economic and diplomatic ties, but also through meaningful connections between our people. Basketball is one of the shared passions that brings our communities together, and TMP is proud to support experiences like the B.LEAGUE Manila Games that help strengthen these connections,” said Masando Hashimoto, President of TMP.
The series also underscored how Japan-Philippines relations have grown beyond formal diplomatic and economic ties. Over the decades, exchanges in culture, tourism, business, education, and the arts have helped build familiarity and understanding between the two peoples.
“Beyond this, this bilateral relationship for TMP is represented in part by the economic partnership built through decades of Toyota’s automotive business in the country, which has contributed to local manufacturing, employment, skills development, and the continued growth of the Philippine automotive industry,” Hashimoto added.
The Manila Games also gave Filipino fans the chance to watch Dwight Ramos of Levanga Hokkaido and AJ Edu of Gunma Crane Thunders play for their respective B.LEAGUE clubs in Manila.
Guests had the chance to earn prizes at the TOYOTA Challenge Zone
TMP also mounted the TOYOTA Challenge Zone, an on-ground activity area where attendees joined interactive basketball challenges and had the chance to win prizes.
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