NBA BEAT

NOBU

It’s Friday evening in Kyoto, and at his temple Nobu is wrapping up his religious duties for the day. poweredby.tokyo, in collaboration with the NBA, follows Buddhist Nobu as he transforms from monk to baller. For Nobu, his two loves religion and basketball flow seamlessly with one another. Both provide an opportunity for meditation, where practice and repetition is rewarded through growth and self-control. As a child he was heavily influenced by the manga Slam Dunk, and now he spends every Friday shooting hoops with local Kansai players. The Kyoto basketball community has become his second home, he says, and the sport has become inseparable with his daily life.