Upon the Qatar World Cup approaching there was somewhat of a craze in the animanga community as a show called Blue Lock was airing.
A football anime about one man’s master plan to lead Japan to World Cup victory using a facility and training regimen designed to create the greatest ‘egotist’ striker.
It was a plot that captured many in the land of the rising sun as it became the fourth highest-selling manga in the country for the month of November.
From 31 October to 27 November 2022, Blue Lock sold 734,666 copies, topping other well-known titles such as Tokyo Revengers and One Punch Man.
During the tournament as Japan beat European giants Spain and Germany, the manga topped the weekly charts selling 403,599 copies (12–18 December), 141,187 more than second-place Chainsaw Man.
However, this article focuses on the manga which placed eleventh in November… Ao Ashi.
Written and illustrated by Yugo Kobayashi the narrative is one grounded in realism unlike Blue Lock. The storyline follows a teenager named Ashito Aoi (bottom right), a boy from a rural town who is very self-centred in his style of play.
Essentially, he is a diamond in the dirt, and his potential is spotted by a scout for a youth team in Tokyo.
He is offered to try out for that exact team later receiving an invitation to permanently move to the city and become a player for Esperion.
Ashito realises he is no longer the big fish in a small pond. In fact, he is arguably the smallest fish in the ocean.
A realisation that further damages his ego as he is moved from striker to left-back.
One season later Ashito and Esperion are on their way to a youth tournament in Qatar to play against the world’s greatest teams including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
And on the plane an interesting conversation is being had:
Yes, there is a barrier between our continent and Japanese football but it is slowly falling as proven by 19 of the 26 in the World Cup squad that played in Europe then.
Rather than being looked at as an opportunity to expand commercial opportunities Japanese players are now considered very professional and adaptable.
In addition to that promising players from the J-League are often very cheap in comparison to European talent.
A 2022 FIFA report revealed that European clubs spent £52,673 in fees per transfer for players in the Asian Football Confederation — the cheapest of all confederations.
Kaoru Mitoma, formally of Kawasaki Frontale, cost Brighton €1.8m and according to transfermarkt is now worth €32 — a fee the seagulls would probably demand double or triple.
This transformation did not come around by chance, it was carefully crafted by the higher-ups of the Japanese first division.
A key man in the operation is Terry Westley, the former West Ham academy boss who is now a technical director for the J-League.
In 2016 the board wanted to improve the quality of the players produced in their country and upon their research contacted Westley for permission to observe the doings of the Hammers academy face to face.
One difference they noticed is that there was much more individual development compared to the uniformity of their training.
This continued for two years until the J-Leauge wanted to take some of the London club’s staff permanently. This was how a job was offered to Westley.
The man behind this was Mitsuru Murai, the former chairman who wanted to implement something similar to the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan.
“Project DNA” was the name of the plan. DNA is an abbreviation for developing natural abilities.
Murai did step down but his successor Yoshikazu Nonomura shares the same vision.
As the quality of individuals rises so will the attention European scouts give Japanese players.
West Ham are not the only British team to have ties with Japan. In actuality Celtic are arguably the club most known to have a Japanese contingent within their squad.
At the time of writing they have five Japanese players, not including one currently out on loan. All of whom arrived between 2021 and 2022.
Transfer activity like that was previously unheard of but the manager’s previous experiences in Japan allowed him to develop an eye for talent most working within football never gain.
Ange Postecoglou speaking on his signings said: “The reason I went down that road is, one, I have great knowledge of that market in that part of the world because that is where I have worked and two, it is ideal for the January market because their season finishes in December.
“If we wanted to get players in early in the January window that is a good part of the world to do business. Don’t just assume we’ve brought in four Japanese players, we have brought in four quality players, all very different, who can all contribute.”
As Japan comes to the forefront of football hopefully the rest of Asia will follow.
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