From Kahuku to the X-League: How BJ Beatty Found a Football Home in Japan
Tokyo, Japan – For BJ Beatty, a former Kahuku High and University of Colorado defensive end, a decade-long career in Japan’s semi-professional American football organization, the X-League, began wiht a lost-in-translation moment and a penalty for a hit that might have been legal back home [[1]]. Now, Beatty is a full-time defensive line coach for the Kanagawa-based Fujitsu Frontiers, with his brother Bronson also playing for the team.
Beatty’s journey to the X-League was unexpected.Initially unaware of Japanese gridiron football, he was convinced by a family friend to consider Japan as a way to extend his playing career. The X-League consists of company-sponsored teams, each allowed to roster four foreign players, typically at quarterback or skill positions [[1]]. Beatty,though,made his mark as a relentless pass-rushing defensive end.
He’s become fully immersed in Japanese life, fluent in the language, married with three children, and makes regular trips back to Hawaii. Beatty is one of two X-League coaches from Hawaii,following in the footsteps of Karl Noa.
The league mirrors the NCAA football season, running from August to January. Former University of Hawaii quarterback Inoke Funaki, a fellow Kahuku alum, recalls being sacked multiple times – and even strip-sacked for a touchdown – by Beatty, a player he once