I noticed that there are a couple of non-Japanese Japan NT fans on this forum. (Before anyone starts, no, I am not saying there's anything wrong with it. Must state this clearly before trolls commit their usual acts of arson.) Just for curiousity's sake (and communication, perhaps), could those who are non-Japanese Japan fans reply to this thread? I want to know what attracts non-Japanese to Japan NT. Things such as: 1. Your nationality 2. What you like about Japan NT 3. Your favorite Japanese player 4. Your future vision about Japanese soccer (will it rise or fall? etc.) 5. Anything else you would like to add Getting foreign fans would help out Japan NT... Maybe.
aust. ( the players, of course yujiiiiiiiii! too early for me to predict, but i don't really seeing them getting any better in the near future with this coach (NT wise), let's hope coach slection improves after okada is fired. i would like to see j league clubs employing more (decent) foreign coaches for now, they bring more quality to the j league (osim, stojkovic, wenger) and local coaches can learn from them. i would like to add i love japanese men btw, are you japanese, spherical?
1. Your nationality: Norway,Europe 2. What you like about Japan NT fell in love with them in 2002, and have stayed loyal ever since. love the football they play at times, although the last couple of years there's been more lows than highs. the best memories are of course 2002, and 2003 and 2005 confederations cup as well as asian cup 2004. 3. Your favorite Japanese player oh that's many. On Cerezo: Shinji Kagawa, Tatsuya Furuhashi and Takuya Kokeguchi ( on loan to JEF now) Others: Daisuke Matsui,Keji Tamada, Keita Suzuki, Takayuki Suzuki,Kazuyuki Toda,Yoshihito Fujita, Naoki Matsuda, Yuichiro Nagai, Tadaaki Hirakawa, Yutaka Tahara, Hajime Hosogai among others... 4. Your future vision about Japanese soccer (will it rise or fall? etc.) definitely rise. 5. Anything else you would like to add with the interest in Japan NT back in 2002, alot of other things about japan has caught my interest now. like japanese movies, music, sports, people, culture,writers, among others. Oh, and japanese girls is another "interest" i guess
I am not Japanese by born, but I am Japanese by heart. I grew up in Tokyo and went to Japanese elementary and middle school.
Yes, I am a Japanese born in Tokyo, but I have also spent my teenhood and later in US. Wow! You sure do know a lot of Japanese players. My current favorite is Komano, although he's getting bashed more lately... So that makes it at least 9 years in Japan? Do you live in US now?
12 years, I went to 3 years of kindergarten as well. I currently studying in the Penn State University.
i am half japanese i don't know if that counts! yuji nakazawa is my fav player and ****** football has to go up i think, as long as we have osim.
Right i'm half Australian and lived down under for 12 years. Yuji is my favorite player, followed by Hide. The NT is brilliant and it's risen so much since 1992. And I see them pushing quarter finals places or better by 2018.
1. Swedish, Europe. 2. The beautiful football. I haven't seen so much of it for a while. But i still have hope for seeing it again. It started back in 02, first i liked South Korea only, from that comes my username for instance, i still like SK but i'm not as crazy about them now as i was for different reasons. 3. Yuji Nakazawa, what can i say? Easily the best defender in Asia. Only god knows why he is not in Europe. And he scores goals too. 14 goals. That is pretty crazy for a central defender. 4. I'm positive. I think it will only get better. But is Okada the man to lead them? I'm sceptical.
I have two non-Japanese friends near my home in Chiba, and they like the J-league cause of the cute mascots(they are both female).
1. I am a 100 percent whitebread Nebraska boy ... who just happens to live in Hawaii. 2. Japan's style of play (at least until recently) appealed to me. It's almost the polar opposite of what you get from the U.S. national team. 3. Daisuke Ichikawa, Kazuyuki Toda (the Univision crew loved him in 2002), Yoshito Okubo (kid is a beast on Champ Manager) ... and, yes, Shunsuke Nakamura. After what happened between him and Troussier, it was great to see him take a chance with an unfancied club like Reggina, adapt to Europe and make an impact at the highest level. Ideally, that's the blueprint for all the hot prospects -- Japanese or otherwise -- hoping to make it big. 4. If I knew the future, I damn well wouldn't be in the sorry business I am now. I don't see the officiating getting better any time soon. Hopefully more players get an honest chance to move to Europe (or South America, if you'd like), show their stuff and play at a higher level. I don't see Japan making it much farther than the World Cup quarterfinals if the J-League continues to provide the majority of the national team's player pool. 5. Travel Gawdz permitting, I'll be in Japan in mid-July to catch at least one match ... preferably at Nihondaira. One week really is too short, but I'm not sure my finances would hold out for a two-week stay.
1. Your nationality - I'm from Finland, Northern Europe. 2. What you like about Japan NT - The midfield. Beautiful, high-tempo passing play. 3. Your favorite Japanese player(s) - Currently my favorite player is Daisuke Matsui. Other favorites: Shunsuke Nakamura (obviously) Makoto Hasebe Yuichi Komano (always so influential) Yasuhito Endo (gotta love his cool ) Junichi Inamoto (his good days left a great impression in me) Takashi Fukunishi 4. Your future vision about Japanese soccer (will it rise or fall? etc.) Seconded. So many promising youngsters coming up.
Actually, it was said here many years ago that this Japan forum is predominantly a non-Japanese Japan football fan site, made of people who one way or another liked Japan. Not sure how that balance has shifted in recent years, but many posters from those days are still here. I won't comment any further, I shouldn't be posting here as I'm Japanese
that's what i thought too. i'm surprised there's so many people of japanese heritage here, which is a great thing! oh and nice to see some fellow aussies does anyone know where i can find a (small) nakazawa jersey? that would be gangsta. in regards to yuji in europe, i never understood too, until i read that he was so close to going to a bundesliga club but thought him going to europe would hurt his NT chances so he didn't end up moving. btw kigai, is it true hotels in chiba are much cheaper than in tokyo or yokohama?
So many people! Maybe there really is more non-Japanese than Japanese Japan fans on this forum. Is that a good thing?
Most Japanese people rather communicate in Japanese than English. I know I was like that about 2-3 years ago, and to this date, I still lean toward Japanese. To attract actual Japanese people, we need to have a Japanese language forum. I will have not problem with that but I do not know who else is willing to do that.
Hey guys I'm a Japanese fan and I'm from Scotland. I've been a huge fan of Japanes culture for the past 20 years since I was a small child so it was a natural decision for me to follow the team, as well as South Korea who I also followed since the 1990 world cup. Don't get me wrong though if any of them are playing Scotland my heart lies here in Scotland My favourite player at the moment is Endo who also plays for my J league team Gamba Osaka, Junichi Inamoto was a favourite of mine a few years ago I love the stylish passing and set piece play. Also I believe Japan are one of the few countries along with my beloved Scotland who don't dive and fake injury like some of the bigger names in football.I hope that is something that never changes as it is something I hate about football
Yeah, unless you're good in English it's somewhat hard to get by in BigSoccer. Most of those people go to 2-channel and other forums, I suppose.
I guess it depends on how you look at it. I myself have mixed feelings about it as over a decade I've been on a voyage of self analysis as I traveled around the world. I've had my share of discoveries. Over the years Japan has gained a significant number of people around the globe who appreciate Japan and even represent it as if it were their own as Japan's cultural penetration has been far reaching and welcoming, if not always explicit. I maintain that one of the biggest reasons for this penetration is our complete incompetence in English communication; being self sufficient has resulted in a rather unique, strong flavoured culture, cocooned in a thick layer of protection called Japanese language. Most other countries don't have this "cocooning effect" either because (1) they're a developing country (2) English is their predominant language (3) dependence upon the international community was imperative. Most people might have become proud of such achievements (if you could call it that), but in a typically Yanagisawaesque ways we would peek over the wall asking "Really? Are we that good?". Then quickly hide away under a rock saying "No we're not. Bye!". Funny how that habit permeates even in football. Over the years there has been a number of trolls here supposedly representing Japan, but push comes to shove they are always quite profoundly foreign in socio-interaction (but then again, some segments of 2ch is like that too, but that's internet extremism for you). This tendency is not limited to this forum either. If you look at the original Wiki (i.e. English version), the majority of Japan related issues are skewed and unbalanced against Japan, while well cultivated foreigners defend Japan to death to provide both sides of the debate. Partly because there just isn't enough of us who can communicate in English, and partly because culturally such aggressive confrontation is an alien concept; it just feels so vicious and unfriendly. Add on top of that the general tendency to be devoid of patriotism, while the rest of the world boils over in it, meant more often than not outsiders became more patriotic of Japan than the Japanese. Whatever the pros and cons of it, as far as this forum is concerned I appreciate it. I became fond of and treasure the regulars here as over the years I've come to learn that they have such understanding and appreciation of Japan that they would speak on Japan's behalf when some idiots came in to trash Japan (this was more common before BigSoccer became more 'regulated'). Another thing to bear in mind is that this is just an English site. Almighty language though it may be, it is but one of many languages. Internet has its ways to skew your vision of the real world out there, which often turn out to be very different from life online. So I won't worry too much about it There are pros and cons to everything.
Hey come down. If you know me well enough, you would have known what I have meant in that post. My previous post was to merely point out the reason for lack of true Japanese people in BigSoccer. However, I did not agree nor disagree with Spherical. Plus, Spherical meant it as "why is there more foreign audience than Japanese audience in J. League. May be J. League is not as popular as we think among the Japanese people." So before you make any assumptions that out comments are Xenophobic, please re-read the posts. Actually, to be honest, out of all Asian Countries, Japanese are most foreign welcoming people. I mean, I see this at the college all the time. Right now I am interning at a software company as a programmer/translator, but as the firm pointed out, as fas as conducting business with the Japanese companies, communication is the only issue. Japanese people do not hate the foreign culture. In fact, they take the best parts of the foreign culture and implement in their own societies.
You sound as if you are countering my post, but you do realize we're in agreement here? You quoted my entire post so I'm not sure where it went wrong.
Yeah it is. Not just Asian kids either. I can't really define the good and the bad of it, but then again everything has both sides of a coin so I tend to see the bright side of life I'm just grateful for all the support in the english speaking communities because we're few in number.