State of the J – Shonan Bellmare

(Header photo from @bellmare_staff) The Kanagawa coastline is starting to get busy. Summer is coming, and the beaches are starting to get full of the surfers, loafers & people that just want to get away from the city for the day. But beaches & Eno-Shima aren’t the only attractions in this part of Japan, because […]

State of the J – Vissel Kobe

A brief hiatus, our look at the state of J.League teams is back for another salvo, this time looking at the interesting case of Vissel Kobe. The Rakuten backed club from Kansai’s port city looked prime for a title tilt, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Alan Gibson, more familiarly known to you […]

State of the J: Cerezo Osaka

This is a team I’ve been wanting to explore for a long time. The club that brought us Shinji Kagawa & Takashi Inui have long been a glamorous name in J.League circles. Whether it is their iconic pink kit, their legions of female fans, the fact that they brought in Diego Forlan & Cacau and […]

State of the J: Giravanz Kitakyushu

Now this is an interesting case. A club that was seemingly on the way up but now finds itself struggling a bit to get to grips with life in the third tier. Ironically, Giravanz are the envy of many clubs after building a brand new, football specific stadium located close to the centre of their […]

State of the J: FC Tokyo

The team that represents the Japanese capital in J1 had Sky Tree high designs for this season. With manager Yoshiyuki Shinoda installed on a permanent basis after a fine run to end last season, they opened the chequebook (does anyone actually use cheques anymore?) and spent relatively big. Yoshito Okubo from Kawasaki Frontale, Yojiro Takahagi […]

State of the J: FC Gifu

I know, I know. “Why are you talking about FC Gifu? You should be remaining impartial!” I get it, and that is why I’ve enlisted the help of someone who knows a lot more than me about FC Gifu, my old mate @GifuRichy. It has been a very interesting time in Gifu this year. A […]

State of the J: Yokohama FC

The previous installments of this series have looked at teams in the top tier of Japanese football, but now we’re going to switch lanes and look at a team that is threatening to gatecrash the playoff party in the second tier. A party to which, conventional wisdom went, they weren’t to receive an invite for. […]

State of the J: Yokohama F. Marinos

Yokohama F.Marinos were a mystery before the season started, and have continued on the mysterious trajectory, combining some excellent performances such as their opening day win against Urawa with some pretty average ones – the defeat at Sagan Tosu springs to mind. I could have asked around 40 questions to Yokohama F.Marinos supporter Tony Dee, […]

State of the J: Sanfrecce Hiroshima

With the emphasis on “state” – because that is what Sanfrecce Hiroshima are in. Currently in the bottom three with just two wins from their thirteen games so far, this is a pale imitation of the purple clad teams of the past decade. So what is going on? Is it just cyclical? Were we wrong […]

State of the J: Kawasaki Frontale

Often the “trendy pick” amongst the football hipsters in Japan (or have I just imagined that?) Kawasaki Frontale have flattered to deceive on many occasions. Under previous boss Yahiro Kazama they played a brand of football that was beautiful on the eye, but short on quantifiable success. Players like Kengo Nakamura, Yoshito Okubo & Yu […]