Here's a consolidated thread for all would-be Americans in the J.League, which is comprised of 3 divisions. Name (link to thread) Position Club Year of Birth Japan NT Experience Gotoku Sakai DF Vissel Kobe 1991 A (WC2014, WC2018) Taishi Brandon Nozawa GK FC Tokyo 2002 U19 Cayman Togashi FW V-Varen Nagasaki 1993 U23 Shion Niwa FW Zweigen Kanazawa 1994 Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi DF Mito HollyHock 1997 Mizuki Hamada DF Fagiano Okayama 1990 U23 Zion Suzuki GK Urawa Reds 2002 U20 Anton Burns GK FC Machida Zelvia 2003 Ryo Germain FW Yokohama FC 1995 William Popp GK Oita Trinita 1994 U21 Justin Toshiki Kinjo MF Thespakusatsu Gunma 1997 Noah Kenshin Browne FW Mito HollyHock 2001 U16 Carlos Duke MF FC Machida Zelvia 2000 U17 Kennedy Egbus Mikuni DF Avispa Fukuoka 2000 U20 Daniel Schmidt GK Sint-Truiden (BEL) 1992 A (AC2019)
Free YouTube feed (the league usually posts one free game weekly for international viewers) of a J2 clash featuring Mizuki Hamada’s Fagiano Okayama face off against Mito HollyHock led by Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi and Noah Kenshin Browne:
A bunch of J.League Cup action today featuring a few Yanks. William Popp starts in goal for Oita Trinita as they face FC Tokyo and Taishi Brandon Nozawa (bench). Ryo Germain is on the bench next to 53-year-old Kazu Miura for Yokohama FC as they take on Urawa Reds, who start Zion Suzuki between the sticks.
If you're curious about how Kazu looks out there, here's a compilation video of his minutes in the 1st division last year:
To round things off with midweek J2 action: American-Japanese striker Cayman Togashi led the line for the entirety of V-Varen Nagasaki's 3-1 away win over Montedio Yamagata. American-Japanese center back Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi held down a diverse defensive line (alongside the Nigerian-Japanese CB Stevia Egbus Mikuni and the Ghanaian-Filipino-Japanese LB Jefferson Tabinas) for Mito HollyHock, who fell 0-1 to JEF United Chiba despite bringing on American-Canadian-Japanese striker Noah Kenshin Browne in the 82nd minute to try a get an equalizer. Justin Toshiki Kinjo did not feature for Thespakusatsu Gunma as they downed Mizuki Hamada's Fagiano Okayama by the score of 1-0.
18-year-old goalkeeping talent Zion Suzuki made his long-awaited J1 League debut in place of recently error-riddled Japan NT keeper Shusaku Nishikawa and holding the fort down for a 3-0 victory over Vegalta Sendai.
According to local reports, J2 Mito HollyHock's center back Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi is being poached away by J1 club Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who are trying to shore up a thin defensive corps. Great step up for the 2nd year player.
A few more updates: Zion Suzuki is considered the crown jewel of the current young Japanese goalkeeping prospects, having wrested the Urawa Reds starting job away from Japanese NT veteran Shusaku Nishikawa. The 18-year-old's mercurial rise led to a surprise selection to Japan's Olympic squad after the IOC/FIFA increased the squad size to 22. Unfortunately, Zion was also implicated in an administrative fiasco that led to Reds forfeiting a league match (which they lost anyway) after failing to properly report Suzuki's negative COVID test results from national team duty (i.e. as a substitute for tests administered at the club). Sumiyoshi's now-former teammate, the Canadian-born triple-nat striker Noah Kenshin Browne has consistently appeared off the bench for Mito HollyHock but has failed to score in the J2 League this year. The much-touted KennedyEgbus Mikuni, a towering center back at Avispa Fukuoka, struggled to get playing time during their spirited return campaign in J1 and has moved to Tochigi SC of J2 on a developmental loan transfer. He has featured as a regular starter since. William Popp has cemented himself as a regular J1 keeper for the first time in his career after moving permanently to Oita Trinita. He recently made waves for a blog post where he opened up about his personal struggles, both as a professional and growing up in a single-parent household after his estranged American father abandoned his family, leaving a mountain of debt. Cayman Togashi has scored only 1 goal despite making regular appearances up front for J2 side V-Varen Nagasaki. A string of uneven performances for the financially well-backed club led to a coaching change, and they hope to move up the table and contend for J1 promotion. The season has also been an uphill battle for Ryo Germain with 1 goal at the hapless Yokohama FC, who look doomed to relegation to J2 next season. They had surprised many observers with a spirited return to J1 last year, despite being regarded in some circles as a kind of meme club who specialize in employing geriatric legends to attract boomer fans and sponsors with nostalgic appeals.
Japanese-American dual national defender Anrie Chase of Shoshi High School and Japan U-20 is currently training with AZ of the Eredivisie. He was born to a Japanese mother and an American father (Reginald, a USAF veteran) in Yokusuka but spent ages 3-12 in Texas, only beginning to play organized soccer upon moving back to Japan and enrolling in junior high.
Limited to 1 league cup appearance thus far this season, Japan U-20 goalkeeper Taishi Brandon Nozawa has been shipped out by FC Tokyo on a developmental loan to Iwate Grulla Morioka, a J3 side located in the north of Japan. Could be a great shot at getting some sorely needed game time.
Blaublitz Akita of the J2 League signed US-born Japanese midfielder Mouhamadou War for the 2023 season out of Komazawa University. His father is from Senegal and his mother is Japanese.
The J.League Data Site shows 9 active players born in the US: Mouhamadou WAR (MF/2000/Blaublitz Akita/J2) Zion SUZUKI (GK/2002/Urawa Reds/J1) Jelani Reshaun SUMIYOSHI (DF/1997/Sanfrecce Hiroshima/J1) Cayman TOGASHI (FW/1993/Sagan Tosu/J1) Shion NIWA (FW/1994/Blaublitz Akita/J2) Mizuki HAMADA (DF/1990/Fagiano Okayama/J2) Anton BURNS (GK/2003/FC Machida Zelvia/J2) Kennedy Egbus MIKUNI (DF/2000/Avispa Fukuoka/J1) Shosaku YASUMITSU (MF/1999/Kataller Toyama/J3) Carlos Duke, Ryo Germain, Justin Toshiki Kinjo, Taishi Brandon Nozawa, and William Popp are also still in the leagues.
Reports from Japan have Zion Suzuki joining either Man Utd for 5 million GBP or alternatively the Japanese-owned Sint-Truiden in Belgium. Kind of a wide disparity here but either way it looks like a major move is in the works.
That site looks really useful. Any chance you could explain how to use it so we could replicate your search? Also, off the top of my head, looks like a few guys there whose names are new to me...
So unfortunately the detailed player search is only available in Japanese. You have to navigate to https://data.j-league.or.jp/SFIX03/, select "Japanese" from the top right corner, then navigate to the detailed "List of All Players" where you can search by citizenship, country of birth, etc. Google Translate's Chrome plugin is useful for this as it will translate the DOM elements on the fly. This is the screen you want to see:
A dubious Wikipedia edit suggests that Japan U-18 international and newly promoted Vissel Kobe academy graduate right back Justin Homma is of American descent. He was born in Osaka and has generated buzz for his resemblance to his American-born Kobe teammate Gotoku Sakai. I couldn't find any info online related to his parentage, so this could use some more sleuthing. Former Japan youth international goalkeeper William Popp, who has an (estranged) American father, has been acquired by J1 League runner-ups Yokohama F. Marinos, from neighbors FC Machida Zelvia who were just promoted from J2. He will be expected to compete for a starting spot at Marinos, who lost the top 2 keepers in their depth chart (Jun Ichimori, and former Japan U23 international Powell Obinna Obi) in the offseason and are looking for a ball-playing GK for rookie manager Harry Kewell, a protege of Ange Postecoglou. Sanfrecce Hiroshima center-back Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi joins J2 side Shimizu S-Pulse on loan for the 2024 season. The former J1 powerhouse is looking to retool with an eye to returning to the top flight. 住吉ジェラニレショーン 選手 (サンフレッチェ広島) 期限付き移籍にて加入決定のお知らせ#サンフレッチェ広島 の #住吉ジェラニレショーン 選手が、期限付き移籍にて加入することが決定しましたので、お知らせいたします。🎤コメントはこちらhttps://t.co/9w5mesWdAB#spulse pic.twitter.com/l9PpD062si— 清水エスパルス公式 (@spulse_official) December 26, 2023 Justin Toshiki Kinjo remains with J3 side SC Sagamihara for the 2024 season. ･･ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ･･ 🟢2024シーズン契約合意⚫️･･ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ･･✔︎#金城ジャスティン俊樹 選手@justin_kinjo 💬 2024シーズンもSC相模原でプレーします。… pic.twitter.com/QpV872qx7r— SC相模原 (@sc_sagamihara) January 4, 2024 Ryo Germain remains with Júbilo Iwata for the 2024 J1 season after helping them to promotion. 【ジャーメイン 良選手 契約更新のお知らせ】#ジャーメイン良 選手(FW)と来季(2024シーズン)の契約を更新しましたので、お知らせいたします。https://t.co/gmJNTt0Lcw pic.twitter.com/hjC4aD6UBW— ジュビロ磐田 (@Jubiloiwata_YFC) January 1, 2024 Cayman Togashi re-ups with Sagan Tosu after notching 5 goals as a rotational striker in the 2023 J1 season. Noah Kenshin Browne joins Tokushima Vortis in J2 for 2024, wearing the number 9 shirt. ➡️#2024WELCOME TO TOKUSHIMA！NOAH！🔵🟢アスルクラロ沼津より #ブラウンノア賢信 選手の完全移籍による加入が決定しました！「Ｊ１昇格するために結果でチームに貢献します」詳細はこちら▶https://t.co/WWZqA4c5AW#徳島ヴォルティス#vortis pic.twitter.com/2yalMcjz4I— 徳島ヴォルティス 公式 (@vortis_pr) December 26, 2023
Yokohama F. Marinos kick off their 2024 campaign with an AFC Champions League R16 tie against Bangkok United, and new signing William Popp starts between the sticks wearing #42 (he will wear #1 domestically, but Marinos have already "used up" #1 for the 2023-24 ACL season during the group stage).