For most of us becoming infatuated with football is not a choice, it’s something that seems to just happen as a child, a passion that is passed down from a parent or an older sibling. From the moment you are old enough to kick a ball or watch your first game you become hooked and that’s it, you’re a fan for life. The obsession with the beautiful game is so strong in England and the rest of Europe that we do not need to be inspired to take it up; it is simply a way of life. It is our life.
But while football has been the national sport of most major western nations for decades, our friends in the east have only recently turned into football fanatics. In 1993 the J.League, Japan’s first professional football league was created, not because of a spectacular demand for football but because the nation believed they needed football in order to become more like their western counterparts.
Even though the Japanese people did not have an insatiable desire to watch football, they were determined to make the J.League a success and to learn as much as they could in order to support their local sides. Previously Japanese football had been exclusive to the employees of major corporations, such as Nissan, and their links to communities were minimal to say the very least. It was only when the J.League was created that people had a team to call their own and support. It’s no wonder it took the people so long to fall in love with the game.
The J.League undoubtedly contributed to the rise in popularity of football in Japan, but it was something more unorthodox that really helped to inspire children to take up the sport; the anime series Captain Tsubasa, of which fictional Japanese player Tsubasa Oozora was the star.
Originally aired in Japan in the late 80s before being repeated worldwide, the cartoon focuses on the budding football career of Tsubasa who was saved by his football in a truck accident as a child (dramatic, I know), an incident which helped transform his interest into a passion. Tsubasa’s skills developed as a school kid and his talents were recognised as he fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional player at Sao Paulo, Barcelona and the Japanese National Team.
His position? Of course he was a number 10, a trequartista, a playmaker, a creative midfielder whose motto “the ball is my friend” was more than just a catchphrase, it described his approach towards the game.
Gamba Osaka wonderkid Takashi Usami in action for the Soccer Nippon Daihyō
Technique, control and first-touch were key and you only need to look at the qualities of the vast number of talented players emerging from the Land of the Rising Sun to realise just how big an impact Tsubasa had on the children of Japan, with promising midfielders appearing to emerge weekly. While the past generation had little more than Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata and Yasuhito Endo, the new breed has as much quantity as it does quality.
