FOOTBALL JAPAN

Football Japan presents the past and present of Japanese football in both English and Japanese. The site covers all areas of football in the country,with columns by Hiroshi Kagawa - the most experienced football writer in Japan - and the English football journalist Jeremy Walker, as well as an enormous archive of historical information.

Football Japan announces the launch of an under-18 tournament open to high schools, club teams, and other entrants. This event will be hosted at Ocean Arena, Nagoya in March.

Japan Soccer Archive

The history of Japanese football will be accumulated and presented here in the form of a timeline and biographies of various personalities.

[History of Japanese Soccer] 1930's Pictures updated! (Aug. 29)

A look back over history and the football of our forefathers

Having been involved in Japanese football for so many years, I, Hiroshi Kagawa, decided to create a website that would tell the stories of our footballing forefathers and introduce the events (and matches) that went down as milestones in their respective eras. With the kind cooperation of the Japan Football Museum, I have now been able to open this, the Japan Soccer Archive.

The word ‘archive’ has been borrowed into Japanese from English, but corresponding words of very similar spellings are also found in languages such as Italian, French, and German. This term points to historical and official documents, and is generally used to refer to the deposits or other locations where such materials are stored. A famous example in Japan is the ‘NHK Archives’, but of course this website will not contain quite the enormous volume of materials as can be found at the country’s state broadcaster. Instead, it is my hope that, with your support, my own private collection will serve as a central, starting point to inspire the uncovering of other written and photographic materials around Japan. Like a stone cast across a pond, I look forward to seeing what ripples this archive may later create.

[History of Japanese Soccer]

The first part of this archive consists of a year-by-year, chronological record. In 1966, I worked with Shiro Otani and Toshio Iwatani (both now sadly deceased) to produce a book called ’50 Years of Kicking Footballs (A History of the Football Clubs at Kobe First Junior High School and Kobe High School)’. At the end of this book, I compiled a timeline encompassing some 20 or 30 pages entitled ‘Footballing Footsteps’, and in his position as chief editor, Otani kindly offered the following words of praise: “This is a fantastically well-considered piece of work that closely compares the respective histories of the world, of Japan, and of our own Kobe First Junior High School.” I wonder what he would say about this archive if he were alive today.

Although it should really begin somewhat earlier ? and details from these earlier times will be added at a later date ? the History of Japanese Soccer section will initially start from 1912: a landmark year in which Japanese athletes took part in an Olympic Games for the first time.

[Japanese Soccer Personalities]

This second part will introduce the footballing forefathers who have, through their careers, made great waves and left a lasting impact as Japanese football developed into the ‘form’ it takes today. Thanks to the ‘Japan Football Hall of Fame’, which was founded at the behest of ‘Captain’ Saburo Kawabuchi of the Japan Football Association (JFA), there has been heightened media interest over the past few years in those who have contributed to Japanese football earlier in its history. It is my hope that this section of the Japan Soccer Archive will further raise awareness and understanding of the feats and performances of the Hall of Fame inductees and other such leading figures.

Football had already become a true international sport by the time it first arrived in Japan. The history of Japanese football, and indeed the development of football around the world, is closely related to the histories of each country and continent where the game has been played. As I approach my 83rd birthday, it is my sincere hope that this archive will further its readers’ interest in the world and in Japanese history, and enable them to cast their eyes over the steps that modern Japan has made throughout the Meiji, Taisho, Showa, and now Heisei eras.

It is with great gratitude to the various companies that have supported and continue to support this project, and to the Japan Football Museum for their kind cooperation, that I hereby announce the ‘kick-off’ of the Japan Soccer Archive.

Hiroshi Kagawa

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Column & Blog

A View From a Brit by Jeremy

Jeremy Walker, a British football journalist living in Japan, writes about Japanese football.

The end of the journey (Apr. 01)

English blood, Osakan heart by Ben

Ben Mabley is from Somerset, England, and currently spends his time watching and writing about football in Osaka.

Follow BenMabley on Twitter