The fortunes of Japan’s national team have changed dramatically in the past decade.
From a team that couldn’t even qualify for the FIFA World Cup – the blue samurai first participated in 1998 – to a side that’s progressed to the round of 16 in two of the past three tournaments.
A great part of this recent success has been Japan’s emphasis on youth development.
Even for the community in Australia, playing football is an important aspect of growing up.
“Community wise it is a great opportunity for my son to speak a bit of Japanesae and bond with Japanese speaking kids, Japanese background kids,” Sydney local Kitty Hashimoto says.
The upcoming World Cup in Brazil will be the culmination of a nearly two decades of preparation and it could be Japan’s most memorable to date.
“The current squad is the best squad in Japanese soccer history ever, because most the players are playing overseas in big clubs,” youth football coach Tadashi Miyashita says.
“I think the players believe they can do something big in this World Cup.”
With world class talent like AC Milan’s Keisuke Honda and Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa, Japan could be one of the giant killers of Brazil 2014.
Find out how other communties in Australia are preparing ahead of the World Cup here.
