Rui Hachimura, born to parents Makiko Hachimura and Zakari Jabil, made history in 2019 as the first Japanese player to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft and only the second Japanese-born player to be drafted into the league.
At the time, Rui acknowledged how important the achievement was for them. “You know, it means a lot for me and my family,” he said, per NBA.com.
However, being selected to play for the Washington Wizards in 2019 was the culmination of a long journey for the player, who was, he told Japanese newspaper The Mainichi in 2019, determined to “become an athlete who can compete on the global stage and lead Japanese sport.”
Still, his path was not without bumps. When Rui — who since 2023 has played for the Los Angeles Lakers as a small forward — first came to the United States to attend Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, he didn’t speak English.
“Communication. Language. That was very hard,” he shared in a 2019 interview with Andscape. “It’s different. Here and Japan are, like, the opposite things. Maybe I was thinking about going home a little bit, but I couldn’t quit. I had a bigger goal.”
Rui continued playing for the Gongoza Bulldogs, and ended his college career as the West Coast Conference player of the year, according to The Japan Times. Two years later, in 2021, he carried the flag for host country Japan at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
His success, he had previously told The Mainichi, was due to qualities passed down by his mom and dad.
“I inherited a privileged body from my father and the diligence to keep making efforts from my mother,” he explained in 2019.
From assigning him a unique name to watching videos of his games, here’s everything to know about Rui Hachimura’s parents, Makiko Hachimura and Zakari Jabil.
Rui’s father, Zakari Jabil, is from Benin, a French-speaking West African country. His mother, Makiko Hachimura, is Japanese. The couple raised their family in Sendai, Japan, which Rui admitted came with challenges at times as a mixed race man in an overwhelmingly Japanese society.
“They looked at me like I was different,” he told Andscape in 2019. “I got used to it. It is what it is because they don’t have but so many Black people in Japan. … They were really nice to me in junior high school or high school.”
It’s a struggle that Zakari also faced as a Black man in Japan.
“I think it was hard for him, but he’s a real friendly guy and can communicate with the people,” Rui told The Athletic in 2019. “He didn’t … feel sorry for himself.’’
Despite the challenges, Rui doesn’t miss an opportunity to honor his heritage.
“I am really proud about being half-African and half-Japanese,” he added. “It’s rare. I’m glad to be like this.”
