1986–87 Japan Soccer League

Despite moving to Kashiwa, Chiba and a soccer-specific stadium of their own, Hitachi did not adjust well and were relegated in bottom place, the first drop for the former champions. Matsushita, despite having more victories than relegation rivals Yamaha, had more losses as well and thus joined Hitachi.

Sumitomo returned to the top flight at the first time of asking, followed by Toyota Motors, who had been struggling since their 1977 relegation and came close to dropping out of the League. TDK and the Kyoto Police Dept. team went back to the regional divisions; TDK would not return to the second tier until 2021.

First stage

East

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Toshiba	14	10	3	1	24	7	+17	23
2	Sumitomo	14	9	3	2	36	9	+27	21
3	Kofu Club	14	6	3	5	15	15	0	15
4	Cosmo Oil	14	5	4	5	17	15	+2	14
5	ANA Yokohama	14	4	5	5	20	18	+2	13
6	Fujitsu	14	6	1	7	16	20	−4	13
7	Toho Titanium	14	4	4	6	13	19	−6	12
8	TDK	14	0	1	13	8	46	−38	1

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

West

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Tanabe Pharmaceuticals	14	9	5	0	22	5	+17	23
2	Toyota Motors	14	9	2	3	33	15	+18	20
3	Osaka Gas	14	6	7	1	20	13	+7	19
4	Seino Transportation	14	7	2	5	14	12	+2	16
5	Nippon Steel	14	7	1	6	23	15	+8	15
6	Kyoto Prefectural Police	14	3	2	9	15	34	−19	8
7	Kawasaki Steel	14	2	2	10	16	30	−14	6
8	NTT Kansai	14	1	3	10	12	31	−19	5

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Second stage

Promotion Group

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Sumitomo	14	9	4	1	20	4	+16	22	Promoted to First Division
2	Toyota Motors	14	6	4	4	19	12	+7	16
3	Tanabe Pharmaceuticals	14	3	8	3	11	9	+2	14
4	Seino Transportation	14	4	6	4	9	11	−2	14
5	Toshiba	14	4	5	5	12	11	+1	13
6	Osaka Gas	14	5	2	7	12	20	−8	12
7	Kofu Club	14	5	1	8	12	15	−3	11
8	Cosmo Oil	14	3	4	7	8	21	−13	10

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation Group

East

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
1	Fujitsu	6	5	1	0	37	26	+11	24
2	ANA Yokohama	6	3	1	2	33	30	+3	20
3	Toho Titanium	6	2	2	2	21	29	−8	16
4	TDK	6	1	1	4	20	54	−34	11	Relegated to Regional Leagues

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

West

More information Pos, Team ...

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
1	Nippon Steel	6	4	0	2	37	22	+15	23
2	Kawasaki Steel	6	3	1	2	29	39	−10	13
3	NTT Kansai	6	3	0	3	25	40	−15	11
4	Kyoto Prefectural Police	6	1	1	4	20	54	−34	11	Relegated to Regional Leagues

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Source: ^{[citation needed]}

9th-16th Place Playoff

More information Pos, East ...

Pos	East	Score	West
9–10	Fujitsu	3-3(PK4-2)	Nippon Steel
11–12	ANA Yokohama	4-2	Kawasaki Steel
13–14	Toho Titanium	3-0	NTT Kansai
15–16	TDK	5-0	Kyoto Prefectural Police

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• Japan - List of final tables (RSSSF)