Japan wound up eighth in Rio in its first Olympic women’s basketball appearance since 2004. But the team took pride in its highlights, and in praise from rivals like the United States assistant Dawn Staley. After the quarterfinals, Hovasse said Staley promised to use the game tape at South Carolina, where she is head coach, to show her players how to play at a faster pace. “Japan,” she said, “takes it to another level in terms of tempo.”

If the American coaches were impressed with Japan’s effort, so too were supporters at home, where basketball has long been considered a minor sport.

When the Women’s Japanese Basketball League opened its 18th season last month, hundreds of ticket holders began lining up outside Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium three hours before tip-off of a game between the JX-Eneos Sunflowers and the Fujitsu Red Wave. The game was moved to the neutral site to accommodate a larger crowd when ticket demand soared after the Olympics.

Fifty-five members of the news media and a near capacity crowd of 3,165 gathered to watch six Olympians, including Tokashiki, who also plays for the Seattle Storm in the W.N.B.A., in a rematch of last season’s league final.