Kentaro Asahi

Kentaro Asahi (朝日健太郎, Asahi Kentarō; born September 19, 1975) is a Japanese professional beach volleyball player and politician. He was born in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan.

Kentaro Asahi
朝日 健太郎
Official portrait, 2016
Member of the House of Councillors
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 July 2016
Preceded by	Kota Matsuda
Constituency	Tokyo at-large
Personal details
Born	(1975-09-19) 19 September 1975 (age 49) Kita-ku, Kumamoto, Japan
Political party	Liberal Democratic
Alma mater	Hosei University Waseda University
Volleyball career
Personal information
Height	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Beach volleyball information
Current teammate
Teammate Katsuhiro Shiratori
Previous teammates
Teammate Tours (points) Koichi Nishimura Satoshi Watanabe 25 (295) 24 (605)
Medal record Men's beach volleyball Representing  Japan Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou Men

Asahi played as a center for the Japan men's national volleyball team in the 1990s. He ended up in sixteenth place at the 1998 World Championship, and later on started a career in beach volleyball. Asahi and teammate Katsuhiro Shiratori represented Japan in beach volleyball at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Asahi began to work for the IT company Forval Corporation in 2011 through a Japanese Olympic Committee athlete hiring program.^[2]

In July 2016, Asahi was elected as a member of the House of Councillors representing the Tokyo at-large district for the Liberal Democratic Party.^[3]

Honours

• 1998 World Championship — 16th place