Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the league's growth in Tohoku has been significant.
Credit the league office for recognizing that Tohoku had untapped potential. (It was a region primarily ignored by the old JBL.)
The Akita Northern Happinets' arrival that autumn was celebrated enthusiastically within the prefecture. For example, on Oct. 15, 2010, a Friday, the night before the team's first-ever home game, decades-old TV footage included game highlights of native son Makoto Hasegawa, the current head coach, aired on a local television news program, the star guard competing in high school and college tournaments. This was Akita, so the game highlights caused people to stop in the middle of a busy Akita Station and congregate around a big-screen TV to check out the highlights.
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