Akemashite omedetou, a Happy New Year - and welcome to the Japan 2010 thread. For purposes of continuity, the Japan 2009 thread started here. A month-by-month summary of the 2009 J-League season was presented via a separate thread, The Twelve Js Of Christmas, here.

So, what do fans of Japanese football have to look forward to over the coming twelve months? In the summer comes the undoubted highlight of the year, Japan's fourth appearance in the finals of the World Cup and on the first weekend in March, the 2010 J-League season commences with the addition of a further new team - Giravanz Kitakyushu - to the ranks of J2. In the meantime, to keep us entertained there are the kit and slogan launches via which J-League clubs seek to maintain their media profile and, on the pitch, the continuing All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament.

But there's only one place to start the new thread, and that's with the New Year's Day Emperor's Cup Final, won 4-1 by holders Gamba Osaka against Nagoya Grampus. Gamba took an early lead through Brazilian forward Lucas but were pegged back just before half-time by Naoshi Nakamura. The second half was shaded by Nagoya, whose Keiji Tamada did his level best to dive for a penalty, but the key moment of the match came thirteen minutes from time, when Yasuhito Endo skipped round a couple of challenges to shoot brilliantly past Grampus keeper Seigo Narazaki from twenty yards.

After that, Gamba were pushed back on to the defensive as the Red Whales fought for an equaliser only for the inevitable to happen four minutes from time, when a lightning counter attack enabled Takahiro Futagawa to make it 3-1. The scoring was rounded off in the closing seconds with another for star man Endo and a three-goal margin of victory did rather flatter the Blue and Blacks. But as a consequence Nagoya have failed in their efforts to qualify for the Asian Champions League, the four Japanese places going instead to Gamba, Kashima Antlers, Kawasaki Frontale and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.



Absolutely everyone associated with Gamba Osaka

Emperor's Cup Final

Gamba 4-1 Nagoya

Akemashita omedetou!!

Something else to possibly look forward to is seeing how Keisuke Honda gets on at new club CSKA Moscow. I think it is good move for him. I don't think it would have been good to go to a top European club - Manchester United & (ahem) Liverpool had been mentioned - but CSKA are in the second group of elite clubs in Europe. Regulars in the latter stages of European competition whether it be the Champions League or Europa League, it should provide a stern test for one of Japan's brightest hopes.

A domestic transfer that looks a very decent bit of business has seen Sanfrecce Hiroshima snap up Oita's international 'keeper Shusaku Nishikawa. Very promising signs for Sanfrecce's forthcoming ACL campaign.

And watching the game yesterday, it just showed that Endo is a man at the peak of his powers. If he starts next season in the same vein as he finished this one then the likelihood of him being Japan's main man in South Africa becomes very strong indeed.

A Happy New Year to you, NBNG.

The transfer of Honda away from VVV is obviously a story that has been going on for months and it looks as if he and his agent have been considering their options very carefully. In Holland he was the absolute star turn of the team and it will be a big test to see if he can still make a contribution even if that is no longer the case. Honda hasn't done himself many pre-World Cup favours with his performances for the National Team, so hopefully being a smaller fish in a bigger pond at CSKA will be good for him.

Hiroshima's achievement in going from J2 to the Asian Champions League in a year is pretty impressive. It is very striking how there has been a sea change in the attitude towards the ACL of Japanese clubs over the last season or two and they are now using continental participation as a carrot to attract high-profile players such as Nishikawa. They have also brought in Satoru Yamagishi from Kawasaki - presumably as a replacement for Yosuke Kashiwagi, who has opted to take the cash at Urawa. I wonder how successful that move will be for any of the parties concerned.

Anyhoo, this post is also the first in a series of photo specials dedicated to the New Year cards sent out by J-League clubs and I'll come right out and say that this year they're, well, a bit of an uninspiring bunch. And it's for reasons of boringness that (sorry, NBNG) FC Gifu have missed the cut, as have (sorry, Oitim) Oita Trinita - the latter being a particular shame because the card design at least implies that Trinita's slogan for 2010 will be "Your voice moves the Blue team", which I rather like. Anyhow, today's in no way contrived theme is 2009 Winners, so we've got Gamba Osaka fresh from their Emperor's Cup triumph, J2 champions Vegalta Sendai and J-League newcomers Giravanz Kitakyushu.



Gamba Osaka



Vegalta Sendai



Giravanz Kitakyushu

Shocks aplenty in Saturday's Second Round of the All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament. Top of the list of giants killed is definitely Maebashi Ikuei HS from Gunma prefecture, competition favourites felled by the experienced but hardly well-fancied Kagawa Nishi HS from the island of Shikoku. The tough reputation of Nagasaki's Kunimi HS was swept aside as they lost 4-1 to Fujieda Meisei HS, this year's representatives from perhaps the heartland of the Japanese game, Shizuoka. And Kashima HS also lost on a penalty shoot-out, having drawn 1-1 with Osaka's Kansai University 1st HS.

Elsewhere, without doubt the most eye-catching result of the round was at Komazawa, where Chukyo University HS went one up after ten minutes but ended up being destroyed 10-2 by Kamimura Gakuen HS from Kagoshima in Kyushu. The Kamimura goals were shared by no fewer than nine members of their team and such a performance must mark them down as potential winners, alongside Hiroshima Kannon HS, Aomori Yamada HS and Chiba's Yachiyo HS. Aomori for their part eliminated Kobe HS of Science & Technology and striker Kosuke Washio, scorer of this brilliant goal in the qualifying competition, to which I shall unashamedly link for the second time.



The Kashima players experience what life is really like

All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament Second Round

Aomori Yamada HS (Aomori) 2-0 Kobe HS of Science & Technology (Hyogo)
Asahikawa Jitsugyo HS (Hokkaido) 1-2 Yachiyo HS (Chiba)
Buso HS (Kanagawa) 2-4 Nissho Gakuen HS (Miyazaki)
Chukyo University HS (Aichi) 2-10 Kamimura Gakuen HS (Kagoshima)
Gifu Technical HS (Gifu) 2-0 Higashi Fukuoka HS (Fukuoka)
Hiroshima Kannon HS (Hiroshima) 1-0 Yamagata Chuo HS (Yamagata)
Kagawa Nishi HS (Kagawa) 3-2 Maebashi Ikuei HS (Gunma)
Kashima HS (Ibaraki) 1-1 Kansai University 1st HS (Osaka) (PENS 4-5)
Kunimi HS (Nagasaki) 1-4 Fujieda Meisei HS (Shizuoka)
Seibudai HS (Saitama) 1-2 Sakuyo HS (Okayama)
Seiryo HS (Ishikawa) 0-1 Kochi Gakuen HS (Kochi)
Tohoku HS (Miyagi) 1-1 Shoshi HS (Fukushima) (PENS 2-4)
Toyama Daichi HS (Toyama) 0-2 Luther HS (Kumamoto)
Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS (Tochigi) 1-0 Kindai Wakayama HS (Wakayama)
Yamanashi Gakuin HS (Yamanashi) 1-0 Ritsumeikan Uji HS (Kyoto)
Yokkaichi Chuo Kogyo HS (Mie) 0-2 Sakai HS (Tottori)

The All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament kept a-rolling on with the Third Round taking place on Sunday. Giantkillers just 24 hours earlier, Kagawa Nishi HS couldn't build on their shock defeat of favourites Maebashi Ikuei HS and fell to Yamanashi Gakuin HS, the biggest team to be eliminated this time around being Chiba's Yachiyo HS. Likely winners would seem to be Aomori Yamada HS, Fujieda Meisei HS, Hiroshima Kannon HS or yesterday's big hitters Kamimura Gakuen HS, although for Kumamoto's Luther HS Daiki Yamamoto is now up to five goals for the competition, having netted the only goal against Nissho Gakuen HS.



Nasty kit you got there, Kansai University HS of Osaka

All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament Third Round

Aomori Yamada HS (Aomori) 2-1 Kochi Gakuen HS (Kochi)
Fujieda Meisei HS (Shizuoka) 1-0 Gifu Technical HS (Gifu)
Hiroshima Kannon HS (Hiroshima) 1-0 Shoshi HS (Fukushima)
Kansai University 1st HS (Osaka) 2-1 Yachiyo HS (Chiba)
Nissho Gakuen HS (Miyazaki) 0-1 Luther HS (Kumamoto)
Sakai HS (Tottori) 0-2 Kamimura Gakuen HS (Kagoshima)
Sakuyo HS (Okayama) 1-1 Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS (Tochigi) (PENS 4-5)
Yamanashi Gakuin HS (Yamanashi) 2-0 Kagawa Nishi HS (Kagawa)

Meanwhile here's the second photo special looking at J-League clubs' New Year cards. A bunch of them use a snapshot of the relevant team's home ground looking suitably evocative and my heart was telling me to include Mito Hollyhock here, but they managed to make their brand new K's Denki Stadium look pretty dull. So today we have Kawasaki Frontale's Todoroki Stadium and a groovy kind of modern font; Kashiwa Reysol mascot Rey-kun looking regally over his Hitachi Stadium domain, which probably ain't going to get that full again for a while, bearing in mind Kashiwa's relegation last month; and a view of the sweeping main stand at the Level 5 Stadium, home of J2 side Avispa Fukuoka.



Kawasaki Frontale



Kashiwa Reysol



Avispa Fukuoka

Rookie J-League question:

How big are the financial disparities between teams in the J-League? Are we talking Serie A-like gaps, where top teams can one player more than the entire squad of the bottom team? Or is it more equal than that, with some kind of salary cap in place, like MLS?

A new thread for you Furtho, good luck with it. I have very little if nothing to contribute but it is a good read and where else could we find out about those mighty squirrels?

Good luck and happy posting.

Thanks, AE - I hope that the 12 Js Of Christmas thread has been a bit more easily digestible for the casual reader. Oh, and you have also very kindly given me the opportunity to flag that a better source of information on the Mighty Squirrels is, well, here.

AG - there is a big difference in budgets, of course. The smallest is at Mito and I'm reliably informed that their budget for 2009 was 85m yen, which is a shade under one million US $ at the current rate of exchange. They have an average crowd of about 2600 and sources of income for the club include ticket sales, direct sponsorship, merchandise, TV rights, fan donations and a modest league subsidy that every team receives.

But the J-League does have in place a number of measures to make more of a level playing field and a good example of this is the contract system, which basically means that a promising young player will have no financial advantage to gain by signing for a big club as opposed to a small club, say when he graduates from university and is turning pro. The Wikipedia description of the three-tier J-League contract system, here, is as far as I am aware a good summary.

What with local security forces claiming to have killed al-Qaida members involved in the various plots that have led to the closure of western embassies in the country, the young Japanese National Team could hardly have picked a worse time to go to sunny Yemen for their Asia Cup 2011 qualifying tie. In preparation for Wednesday's match Takeshi Okada's inexperienced squad have armed guards at their training complex and hotel - something of a far cry from the idyllic atmsophere of the J-League. As far as the game is concerned, Okada looks set to field perhaps the youngest-ever full national side, with even a couple of university students in with a chance of a debut.

Back in Japan, Tuesday saw the staging of the Quarter-Finals of the All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament, a close series of matches being expected. But a couple of the fancied sides were dumped out on their arses, quite frankly, as Kamimura Gakuen HS from Kagoshima were beaten 4-0 by newly-installed favourites Aomori Yamada HS and Shizuoka's Fujieda Meisei HS also conceded four to Kansai University 1st HS from Osaka. Meanwhile last year's winning prefecture, Hiroshima, lost their representatives as Hiroshima Kannon HS lost to Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS and Yamanashi Gakuin HS squeezed past Luther HS.



Aomori Yamada. Cocky buggers

All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament Quarter-Finals

Aomori Yamada HS (Aomori) 4-0 Kamimura Gakuen HS (Kagoshima)
Hiroshima Kannon HS (Hiroshima) 1-2 Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS (Tochigi)
Kansai University 1st HS (Osaka) 4-1 Fujieda Meisei HS (Shizuoka)
Luther HS (Kumamoto) 0-1 Yamanashi Gakuin HS (Yamanashi)

Hi Furtho. Having been drawn in by your excellent 12 Js thread, would it be possible for you to post the Mito Hollyhock card, as they are definitely my team of choice?

Of course, delicatemoth, and welcome to the thread. I'm glad you enjoyed the 12 Js. 2009 was Mito's most successful ever season - but having over-achieved, at the end of the year the teams' fans were worried that the best players would simply move to other clubs and they would end up worse off. This is exactly what's happened: undoubted star Tomoyuki Arata has signed for Jubilo, top scorer Hiroyuki Takasaki has returned to Urawa at the end of a year-long loan, midfield player Takuro Kikuoka has gone to Verdy, etc.

Most of the incoming players signed to replace them are newly-graduated university students, a preferred solution to the problem of squad-building for many smaller J2 clubs, like Ehime, Gifu and Tokushima. The only exceptions to this at Mito are a pair of forwards who are presumably supposed to be direct replacement for Arata and Takasaki, but they seem a bit of a long shot. My forecast two months before season start is that Mito will be doing very well to come up with another top-half finish in 2010. But obviously, you'll be able to follow how things go on this thread.



Happy New Year from Mito Hollyhock

OK, so here is the last of three photo specials relating to the New Year cards produced by J-League clubs. We've seen a batch from some of the main achievers from 2009 and then some that use the theme of home stadia, so now, inevitably, it's the turn of the mascots. Probably a coincidence, but it's only J2 teams who have taken this approach - Tokushima Vortis, for instance, who as mentioned on the Twelve Js Of Christmas thread only introduced their two mascots in the middle of last season and so unsurprisingly want to develop that part of their media profile. So anyway, here's Consadole Sapporo, Yokohama FC and Thespa Kusatsu.



Consadole Sapporo



Yokohama FC



Thespa Kusatsu

I'm going to Japan on Friday. Can anyone recommend me a good shop to go to in Osaka for some Gamba merchandise?

Not football related but any Osaka record shop, clubs and restaurant recommendations are also appreciated.

The club shop is called Blu Spazio, Axel, and is located in Suita - details are here on the Gamba website.

Two other sports shops also function as official Gamba stores. Sports Authority is in Suita and Soccer Shop Kamo is in Toyonaka - details are on this page. If you want to have look at the online shop to see the sorts of thing they sell, it's here, although there's no current information about replica shirts, presumably because they're going to be announcing the new design for 2010 in the next few weeks. Have a good trip.

Even though it is still a while before the season gets underway, there are a few things I'm looking forward to already.

1. Sanfrecce Hiroshima. I wonder how they will get on with the added distraction of the ACL. Also, having had such a fine season last time out, will they suffer from 'second season syndrome'?

2. Nagoya Grampus. Despite having let Maya Yoshida go, they still look as though they are putting together a strong unit for 2010. I think securing Danilson from Consadole will prove to be a very shrewd signing, but I'm not sure what Andy C will think of that.

3. Shinji Kagawa. The goal happy youngster from Cerezo will be looking to make the step up from J2. From what I have seen of him he has plenty of stuff in his locker and I'm genuinely excited to see how he will do.

4. Kyushu. Should be an interesting time out west, with no less than 5 clubs battling to king of Kyushu. Avispa Fukuoka. Sagan Tosu, Roasso Kumamoto, relegated Oita Trinita and newly registered Giravanz KitaKyushu are the contenders. A big plus is for the supporters who won't have to travel that far to follow their team

5. Of course, FC Gifu. Lots of questions regarding the upcoming season. Can the club survive financially on the 4000 capacity limited gates at Nagara Meadow? There are rumours that for bigger games, a stadium in Ichinomiya (literally just down the road, but in Aichi prefecture) will be used. Can the new coach mould another young team together? Can Koichi Sato replicate his goalscoring feats of last season?

6. Derby days. Like the Kyushu scenario, there will be plenty of derbies in J1 again this season. Cerezo and Gamba will do battle in the second city; Vegalta Sendai's promotion will give them a chance to put pesky Montedio Yamagata back in their place; Shonan Bellmare will make it a Kanagawa derby triangle; and of course there are the established clashes such as Omiya v Urawa and S-Pulse v Jubilo. Personally speaking, there is nothing quite like a derby game!!

Great stuff, NBNG. Some thoughts of my own on some of the issues you raise:

1. I think it'll be tough for Hiroshima to perform as well as they did in 2009. Few teams seem to cope well with the demands of handling both continental and domestic competition, and I just have the feeling that they will be one of those clubs who find it difficult to bring in players to replace good homegrown youngsters who have moved on. Hisato Sato is one of my favourite Japanese players and as a former resident of the fair city of Hiroshima I do have a soft spot for them, but matching what they did last year? A major, major ask.

2. Nagoya have been the club who so far over the close season have taken the most advantage over the recent change in J-League rules to fall into line with the rest of the post-Bosman world, i.e. no transfer fee for out-of-contract players. 2009 was really a disappointing year for them and I think Stojkovic, local hero though he may be, knows he has to deliver a high finish. The main question has to be whether or not Tulio can be the charismatic, dominant figure around which a squad can develop, or whether he'll get on everyone's nerves.

3. Kagawa has indeed chosen to stay with Cerezo for another year - good news for the team who so far have been the most active in the transfer market of those sides coming up from J2. He looks a very dynamic player and clearly has an eye for goal. Personally I don't feel that there is all that much difference between the lower reaches of J1 and the top J2 clubs, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him have a decent year - read: score ten goals or more - and for Cerezo to finish halfway.

4. In some senses it is good to have this strange compression of Kyushu teams all in the same division, but a lot of people are worried about Oita and the fact that their precarious financial state has left them so weak on the playing side. Only forward Daiki Takamatsu of their top players has stayed on - three others have gone to Cerezo alone. When you look at the guys who are coming in to replace them you have to conclude that Trinita are simply a different club in every sense from how they were in 2008.

5. Aha, the Mighty Greens. As I've said before, from an outsider's perspective even putting to one side the Emperor's Cup run, 2009 has to be considered a success. But as with so many of the smaller clubs, it is hard to predict how things will go on a year-by-year basis because with the high turnover of players they are basically starting from scratch every close season. How lucky will they be with their batch of university students? The upheaval of the stadium can't help matters and a lot depends on how quickly the new coach can make a real team.

Meanwhile, it's also report time. Japan confirmed qualification for the 2011 Asia Cup finals on Wednesday thanks to a 3-2 win in Yemen. Takeshi Okada's young side started extremely nervously and were heading for a 2-0 half-time deficit when FC Tokyo striker Sota Hirayama pulled one back just before the break. In fact, substitute Hirayama was only on the field due to an early injury to Urawa Reds starlet Naoki Yamada, which led to the teenager having to be replaced just 21 minutes into his international debut. After the restart, the Blue Samurai looked more confident and although Hirayama could have had an absolute hatful, he nevertheless scored a hat-trick of close-range goals to win it for Japan.

The tall Hirayama has had an unusual career path, in that as a star on the high school football scene he elected to play outside of Japan - in Holland with Heracles, where he debuted while still only twenty - before ever making an appearance in the J-League. After a couple of years in Holland, Hirayama signed for Tokyo and in all honesty has had a patchy time of it there, the feeling being that he was failing to fulfil his early potential. Still, such a display on his own first appearance for the national side would suggest that it might not be too late for him to make a late run on the blind side for a place in the squad for the World Cup.



The Ultras Nippon get in a ruck

Asia Cup Qualifying Group A - Scores & Standings

Bahrain 4-0 Hong Kong
Yemen 2-3 Japan

1. Bahrain 12 (+11)
2. Japan 12 (+11)
--------------
3. Yemen 3 (-5)
4. Hong Kong 0 (-17)

A photo special from Japan's defeat of Yemen - and now the fuss over Sota Hirayama's debut hat-trick has died down, media attention is concentrating on the injury to nineteen-year-old Urawa Reds midfielder Naoki Yamada, whose calf was broken 21 minutes into only his second game for the national team. Under coach Volker Finke, Yamada has worked his way into the Urawa starting line-up over the past year and the injury has left many Reds fans gloomy that they have already lost one of their great hopes for 2010. With less than two months to go before the start of the season, it's not yet clear how long Yamada will be out.



Naoki Yamada gets his calf busted



Yamada's loss, Hirayama's gain



Takeshi Okada wows the locals

There's now available for viewing a Goals of the Month video clip for December, here. Given that there was only one round of J1 matches last month, five of the goals are from the later rounds of the Emperor's Cup with Yasuhito Endo's mazy run and finish for Gamba Osaka in the final against Nagoya Grampus probably the pick of the Cup entrants. A rigorously-applied sense of fair play prevents me from choosing as my favourite the shot by Omiya Ardija's Kohei Tokita at Oita Trinita, so instead we'll go for Hokuto Nakamura's acrobatic effort for FC Tokyo against Albirex Niigata. Banzai!

1. Shinzo Koroki, title-winning header for Kashima v Urawa
2. Kohei Tokita, long-range blaster into the corner for Omiya v Oita
3. Hokuto Nakamura, shapes up to finish for FC Tokyo v Niigata
4. Lucas, overhead kick for Gamba v Sendai
5. Tomoyuki Hirase, glancing header for Sendai v Kawasaki
6. Lucas, tidy finish to incisive pass and move for Gamba v Nagoya
7. Yasuhito Endo, run and shot for Gamba v Nagoya

The favourites made it through the Semi-Finals in the All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament on Saturday, although one of them had a darn narrow escape. Much-fancied Aomori Yamada HS were two up and coasting until they conceded twice in injury time to Osaka's Kansai University 1st HS. Yamada's goalkeeper then dug his team out of a large hole by saving three kicks in the subsequent penalty shoot-out, meaning that they become the first school from Aomori ever to reach the final. There they will face Yamanashi Gakuin HS, who put in a solid if unspectacular performance to beat Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS in the other semi.



Yamanashi Gakuin in blue on the attack

All-Japan High School Soccer Tournament Semi-Finals

Kansai University 1st HS (Osaka) 2-2 Aomori Yamada HS (Aomori) (PENS 2-3)
Yaita Chuo Koto Gakko HS (Tochigi) 0-2 Yamanashi Gakuin HS (Yamanashi)

The run-up to the 2010 J-League season has commenced in earnest this weekend, with the start of the press conferences that over the next few weeks will be organised by all 37 member clubs. For the uninitiated, these events are an opportunity for teams to announce their slogan for the year ahead, perhaps to introduce all the players who have been signed since the 2009 season ended just over a month ago or to unveil a new kit design. Naturally, the main aim of all this is to sell season tickets and merchandise, while enabling clubs to build their media profile.

Quickest off the mark this year are Sanfrecce Hiroshima, who took the J2 title in 2008 and then in their first season back in J1 finished an impressive fourth. It might be tough for Hiroshima to build on that success, especially as Mihailo Petrovic's side will also be participating for the first time in the Asian Champions League. But to chivvy everyone along, the club have come up with a - kind of - new slogan, expanding on 2009's WE FIGHT TOGETHER with, er, WE FIGHT TOGETHER 2010 Sogeki, the latter being a corruption of the characters for "run" and "attack".

So that's a bit boring, really, to be honest, although it does offer a neat example of the flexible attitude towards language that these slogans often adopt. Hiroshima fans would probably be forgiven, though, for having had half an eye on events at Urawa Reds on Saturday, where they were launching a new kit for 2010 off the back of a press introduction to their star signing of the winter so far - ex-Sanfrecce starlet Yosuke Kashiwagi. Early indications from Reds fans would seem to suggest that they're pleased enough about both Kashiwagi and the shirt.



Sanfrecce's slogan graphic



Hiroshima's new signings get into the team spirit



Yosuke Kashiwagi in the new Urawa Home shirt