DUBAI (FIBA U17 World Championship) - Japan have already learned a lot from the first two games of their first appearance at the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship.

The Asians now know they have a long way to go before they can compete against teams at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Tokyo.

The team at the U17 Worlds in Dubai represents a big part of the future for Japan as they look forward to the Summer Games in six years, when the players from this group will be 22 and 23 years old and ideally slowly becoming leaders of the senior national team.

But the players themselves know already they must take a big step forward if they don't want to embarrass themselves in Tokyo at the start of the next decade.

"If we stay at this level, we're going to get beaten so badly (in 2020). We have to get better as a team and as individuals. The level has to go up," said Hayato Maki, one of Japan's top players in Dubai.

"We don't get too many opportunities to play this level of competition, so we have to be aggressive and try as hard as we can."

Maki also said the players in Dubai have to remember this experience when they go back to Japan and try to eventually raise the level of play there.

"We have to think about this level and prepare for this level of play domestically," he warned.

The small forward, along with Louis "Rui" Hachimura are two of Japan's biggest hopefuls down the road.

"Maki is a super athletic guy who can shoot and drive. He's a very instinctive player," said Torsten Loibl, the sports director and associate head coach for Japan's men's national teams.

And about Hachimura, Loibl said: "Louis is probably one of the only prospects we have in Japan right now. He has everything that a basketball player needs. He's athletic, he has size, he is smart, has a high basketball IQ and is a hard-working kid."

Hachimura is a superstar in Japan, dominating in his age group and the federation would like to send him to Europe or the United States to play at a tougher competition level - preferably Europe.

"Japan has sent players to the States and it's never worked out. They never came back with a higher performance. I think that in terms of teaching fundamentals, European teams are much better. I think if you send (Hachimura) to Europe where he gets a good basketball education, it could be a better choice for him," said Loibl.

"If he decides to go abroad within two years he can be really good."

That would be a big step to improve Japan's chances down the road.

The Japanese basketball federation is in general working hard to find better - and bigger - talent.

"We need to find guys like Louis who at least have the size to play internationally and play a couple of different positions," said Loibl, who points out there are almost 350,000 basketball players under the age of 14 registered in Japan - more than any other country other than China and the United States.

"Sure, Japan is a small nation but I'm sure we can find some players among these guys."

They had better if they want to want to be competitive at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

FIBA