KAWASAKI, Japan — The members of the Tokyo Police Department’s Ninth Riot Squad are professionals at containing demonstrations, foiling terrorists and preventing mayhem. On any given Sunday, they also make mayhem on the football field as the Keishicho Eagles.
One of the more curious teams in one of Japan’s more obscure leagues, the Eagles are a longtime member of the X League, the top division of a four-tier amateur football league that has existed since 1971.
Unlike, say, the Asahi Soft Drink Challengers or the Tokyo Gas Creators, the Eagles lack a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor and instead rely on the Keishicho, or metropolitan Police Department.