Opinion Soccer stars can score goals for Japan abroad By Juliet Hindell	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
日本人サッカー選手の英国での活躍に期待 最近の日本のスポーツニュースでは、メジャーリーグでの日本人選手の活躍が大きく取り上げられているが、日本人サッカー選手もイギリスで活躍してもらいたい。日本とイギリス双方にとってよい影響をもたらすことになるだろう。

We all know about the effect of Japanese baseball stars making it big in the Major leagues, you can't escape their success. It's the top news item in all sports bulletins these days.

Ichiro and his friends have taken the American game by storm, not just because they are good sportsmen but because they are stylish gentlemen who know how to win (but also how to lose gracefully).

Japan has also been exporting its top soccer players lately. Of course, Hidetoshi Nakata has long been charming the Italians, but Junichi Inamoto has just joined Arsenal, one of Britain's oldest and toughest clubs, and Akinori Nishizawa has joined the Bolton Wanderers. I wonder if they can have the same effect on the yobbish culture of British football that the baseball stars have had in the States?

That is probably not the reason the British clubs have signed up the Japanese players. West Ham's manager, who failed to secure a Japanese player, was not that disappointed. He said that by just bidding for Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, West Ham had sold 200,000 soccer shirts in Japan.

Fast bucks, or in this case pounds, and not interest in the players is the motive for many British clubs to sign Japanese players. Japanese football fans are some of the most devoted in the world, especially in their capacity to buy soccer souvenirs. If Japanese players join foreign clubs it also means lucrative TV broadcasting contracts in Japan because fans want to keep up with their favorite footballers.

But the Japanese players could make this an opportunity to show the British how soccer can be a game for all the family like it is in Japan, not dominated by thuggery or racist taunts from the stands. If enough Japanese fans follow their heroes to their new clubs they are likely to make a big impression on the local supporters. During the 1998 World Cup in France, Japanese spectators stunned their hosts by taking their rubbish home with them. In Britain, spectators are more likely to hurl it on to the pitch.

But there's another opportunity for the Japanese players, too. While the culture surrounding British soccer is a national disgrace, what happens on the field is often first-class soccer. Japanese players can learn a lot from playing with these top teams.

Japanese soccer needs a shot in the arm right now and the success of players overseas may help. It could also raise excitement about the forthcoming World Cup. Even if the ticketing troubles mean real soccer fans won't get into the matches, I hope that many people will get into the spirit of the tournament and watch it on TV.

Soccer is a great game, plagued though it is by violence and commercialism. It builds team spirit, a competitive edge and it's a very good way of keeping fit. These are reasons to enjoy soccer that the game's country of origin seems to have long forgotten. Perhaps, just as it has done with baseball, Japan can remind the world what soccer is meant to be about.

Shukan ST: Aug. 24, 2001

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