TOKYO — Pete Pranica, the longtime television voice of the Memphis Grizzlies, appeared to be square dancing as he stood in a small conference room here, demonstrating for Japanese broadcasters the N.B.A. violation of thrusting out a hip while setting a screen.

Viewers, he told his fellow commentators through an interpreter, expect “that you know all there is to know about the N.B.A.”

For two days in late September, using a dry-erase board, video and a Power Point presentation, Pranica patiently and deftly explained everything from rules changes to team-by-team outlooks to preparing to broadcast a game. His attire — a Grizzlies polo shirt and khakis — was casual, but his message was not.

The N.B.A. has had a presence in Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, for three decades and has played 12 regular-season games here since 1990. Yet, some of the broadcasters attending Pranica’s workshop had little experience calling league games, having spent much of their careers covering baseball and soccer or high school basketball.