5 brilliant players who are simply too good to be playing in Japan
Former Arsenal, Manchester United and Inter Milan stars are among the brilliant footballers who are simply too good to be playing in Japan.
The J1 League is one of the most competitive football divisions in Asia and plenty of big names have made an impact in the league during the last few decades.
Here are five players who caught our eye as we sifted through the squad lists of every club in the Japanese top flight.
Shinji Kagawa
Kagawa only spent two years in England, but he quickly established himself as a cult hero at Manchester United.
The Japanese playmaker won the Premier League during his debut season at Old Trafford and produced a handful of memorable moments, including a hat-trick against Norwich.
He’s undoubtedly best known for his time with Borussia Dortmund where he racked up over 200 appearances during his two stints with the club.
Fans of Kagawa will be pleased to know that he’s still producing the goods at the age of 35. He re-joined boyhood club Cerezo Osaka in 2023 and still produces magic on a semi-regular basis.
READ: An ode to Shinji Kagawa at Man Utd and the calmest hat-trick ever
Ryo Miyaichi
“He has a raw ability which has attracted many clubs around the world.”
That’s what Arsene Wenger said back in 2011 when Arsenal signed a young Miyaichi. His raw pace and trickery was obvious to see from the off, although his career in England never really took off.
Injuries have plagued the winger for most of his professional career and they seemed to hamper his progress during his early days in England especially.
The winger left Arsenal in 2015 having only made seven senior appearances, but thankfully he’s managed to get his career back on track in his native country.
On the back of another brutal ACL injury in 2022, Miyaichi has now returned to action and is playing some of the best football of his career to date.
Now playing for Yokohama F. Marinos, it’s nice to see the 32-year-old doing well for himself.
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Hayao Kawabe
After breaking through at Grasshopper Zurich, Kawabe joined Wolves in January 2022 but never played a game for the Premier League club.
The midfielder was sold to Standard Liege after just a year on Wolves’ books and returned to his homeland last year upon joining Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Still only 29, Kawabe is the highest-rated J1 League player on Transfermarkt and has won six caps for the national team.
Yoshinori Muto
The Japanese striker never really lived up to expectations during his stint with Newcastle United, although to be fair, he wasn’t given much of a chance.
Muto played just 727 minutes of Premier League football and scored one goal before being promptly shown the exit door at St James’ Park.
Thankfully, he’s managed to get his career back on track in Japan and is now one of Vissel Kobe’s top players. In 127 appearances for the Japanese club, he’s produced an impressive 67 goal contributions. That’s not bad going.
Yuto Nagatomo
Despite playing for Inter Milan for nine seasons and racking up over 200 appearances for the club, Nagatomo somehow only got his hands on one trophy during his time in Italy.
However, he did enjoy some trophy-filled seasons with Galatasaray before eventually returning to Japan in 2021. Still going strong at 38 years old, the FC Tokyo full-back still has some life left in him yet.