The Coca-Cola Classic was a regular season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football game played in Tokyo, Japan, from 1977 to 1993. It was originally sponsored by Mitsubishi and known as the Mirage Bowl, and later sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company and renamed for the soft drink Coca-Cola Classic. Because the game was merely a re-location of a late regular season game, it was not considered a traditional postseason bowl game.
Background
Japan universities began forming their own college football teams since 1934.[1] In 1971, the Utah State Aggies became the first American college football team to play in Japan, in a series of games against teams of Japan's college all-stars.[2][3] January 1976 saw the beginning of the Japan Bowl, a post-season college football all-star game played in Japan each January from 1976 to 1993.