The former All Blacks hooker, who had four seasons in charge at the Wellington Hurricanes, also revealed the Tokyo and Singapore-based team's 34-man squad for their first season.
The squad contained 15 players with test experience and 10 of the Japan squad that stunned the rugby world by beating South Africa at the recent World Cup and went on to win three games.
As well as a majority of players based at Japanese clubs, the playing group featured Argentina loose forward Tomas Leonardi, Springboks tourist Riaan Viljoen and former Queensland Reds flanker Eddie Quirk.
The Sunwolves will join an expanded 18-team Super Rugby competition with Argentina's Jaguares and South Africa's Kings also joining.
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Sporting a red and orange strip that was also unveiled on Monday, the first Asian Super Rugby side will play in one of the South Africa conferences along with the Bulls, Cheetahs and Stormers.
The announcements might go some way to easing concerns in southern hemisphere rugby circles about how competitive the Sunwolves will be in their first season with so little time remaining before they take on South Africa's Lions on Feb. 27.
Hammett coached the Hurricanes from 2011-14 before he left to become the Cardiff Blues' director of rugby but returned home earlier this year for personal reasons.
He was a foundation player for the Canterbury Crusaders in 1996 and played 81 games for the team, winning three titles.
He earned 29 caps for the All Blacks from 1999 until 2003 before a neck injury forced him into retirement.
Eddie Jones, the former Japan coach now with England, was supposed to oversee the Sunwolves' first season but announced before the World Cup that he would be stepping down, citing a lack of ambition at the Japan Rugby Union.
Another former All Blacks forward, Jamie Joseph, is favourite to succeed Jones as Brave Blossoms coach after leading Otago Highlanders to their first Super Rugby title earlier this year.
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, additional reporting by Greg Stutchbury, editing by Peter Rutherford)
