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Japanese Soccer Blogs & Fan Sites

Soccerphile takes a look at the best of the J. League's English-language fan sites and blogs. See what people are writing about Japanese domestic and international soccer and the J. League.

Rising Sun News

The doyen of English-language J. League websites, The Rising Sun news has documented the ups and downs of the Japanese game for more than eight years.

Run by the inimitable Matsu, the site contains a veritable wealth of information, including team line-ups from both J1 and J2, fixture lists and perhaps most useful of all, an excellent historical account of the first fifteen seasons of the J. League.

Also of use are the excellent matchday round-ups, which often see Matsu at his most scathing, particularly on the topic of refereeing in the J. League. His occasionally withering appraisals of Japan's performances at international level are also worth noting, and his coverage of youth and under-age tournaments is an added bonus on a topic that receives scant attention outside of Japan.

Reputedly now on strike (according to the author himself), the Rising Sun News is the definitive voice on Japanese football and, like the sadly dormant Football (Japan) Lost In Translation blog remains an excellent online record of Japanese football - with a lively and active message board to boot.

Go! Go! Omiya Ardija

An excellent site that has documented the fortunes of Omiya Ardija since early 2005, Go! Go! Omiya Ardija is run and administered by a group of Omiya fans including Furtho, who also runs the outstanding Japanese Non-League Football News Site (furtho2.blog32.fc2.com).

Objective and occasionally melancholy, Go! Go! Omiya Ardija takes a look at the fortunes of Saitama's so-called “second side,” and features regular previews and match reports, as well as polls, statistics and some excellent shots of the Squirrels in action.

There's a touch of humour as well, with unflattering photos and links to players personal blog posts popping up from time to time.

Tricolore Pride

Started in response to the lack of English-language information coming out of Yokohama F. Marinos, Tricolore Pride is an eye-catching new site that details the daily happenings of the club.

The crux of the site is based on English-language translations of news reports from Yokohama's Japanese site, with detailed match reports also available. Another excellent feature is a detailed description of how to purchase tickets to Marinos games - a feature sorely lacking in all but Jubilo Iwata's official English-language page.

The site also complements the hilarious M.O.I.S.T. - sadly no longer updated due to the author's departure to Singapore, although it nevertheless remains one of the funniest and most insightful of the personally-maintained blogs.

Soilent Green

A devastatingly funny account of the fortunes of Tokyo Verdy, the URL provides a glimpse into the confused allegiances of its author. A highlight of last season was an emotional confession from the author himself that he would rather watch Omiya Ardija play then follow the the hapless team in green!

Nevertheless Soilent Green always amuses with its frank assessment of not only Tokyo Verdy, but several of their Kanto-region rivals as well. Hilarious rants are peppered with factual anecdotes on the fortunes of Verdy, with the club's back-room management a constant source of irritation.

Not the kind of place for those looking for a measured account of Japanese football, it remains a refreshingly insightful and painfully amusing account of the life and times of Tokyo Verdy.

Oretachi No Kyoto

Loosely translated as "Our Kyoto," Oretachi No Kyoto begun in early 2007 following Kyoto Sanga's relegation from the top flight a season earlier.

The site provides a detailed account of Kyoto's struggles and triumphs during their subsequent J2 campaign - including their surprise run to the promotion/relegation playoff and subsequent victory over the highly fancied Sanfrecce Hiroshima, which propelled Kyoto back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

Visually eye-catching (wear shades while reading) and boasting a practical layout, Oretachi No Kyoto is a one-stop guide to a club whose English-language output is utterly non-existent.

Kawasaki Frontale Supporters

Slightly off the radar is this well-written account of one Japan's most exciting teams. While Kawasaki Frontale do at least acknowledge the presence of English-speaking fans through a rudimentary English page on their website, this Kawasaki supporters blog provides an in-depth match-by-match analysis of the Kanagawa side - although full match reports can be be somewhat sporadic.

Also featured are handy links to the club's J1 and Nabisco League Cup schedules, as well as a somewhat bizarre list of "music to watch football by," which at the time of writing included a heady mix of current R&B and indie hits. No word on what the Kawasaki Frontale supporters think of the latest Coldplay record, but it's a site well worth paying a visit to nonetheless, though the owners annoyingly do not seem to recognize anyone's copyright including ours....grrr.

Mito-Hollyhock.com

Heavy on text but with plenty of insight into life at the wrong end of Japanese professional football, author Vendo's site acts as a de facto English-language partner to the Ibaraki outfit's Japanese site.

He attends many games, both home and away, and even finds time to catch the odd Tochigi SC game in the Japan Football League. Somewhat amusing is the revelation that plenty of official correspondence ends up in his inbox - his URL is almost identical to the club's official website's, but ever the obliging fan he simply redirects it through the right channels and evidently maintains close links with the club itself.

Very much a niche-site, this is a more than useful addition to the canon of English-language J. League fan sites.

Forza FC Gifu

Having been around for a while - despite the fact that FC Gifu were only promoted to J2 at the start of this season, Forza FC Gifu has proved particularly useful for those seeking English-language information on one of Japan' newest professional teams.

Run by football-loving New Zealander and Gifu resident Richy, the site contains everything that one would expect from an unofficial fan site, including match reports, tables, polls and plenty of relevant links. While FC Gifu may toil in the shadows of neigbouring Toyota-backed giants Nagoya Grampus, Gifu fans can at least boast an English fansite to their name.

Cerezo Osaka Fansite

An excellent site that belies its title, the Cerezo Osaka fansite may be authored by a pink-hued Norwegian, but it actually contains fairly comprehensive match reports from all games played in J2.

Naturally it's also heavy on Cerezo content, with author Kaare sticking steadfastly to the team's cause despite their relegation to the Second Division. Contains plenty of interesting tidbits - including a visual collection of past and present Cerezo jerseys, as well as player profiles, plenty of links and a rather fetching illustration of Cerezo's official mascot Roby-kun.

Super Avispa!

An interesting and at one-time bilingual blog, Super Avispa! holds plenty of interest for both German and Australian fans of the J. League, as well those interested in the general fortunes of Avispa Fukuoka.

The Kyushu club are floundering under the auspices of German coach and former World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski, who has raided the Australian A-League by signing the likes of Mark Rudan, Ufuk Talay and Joel Griffiths to try and fuel Fukuoka's promotion charge. He also signed fellow English-speaker and former Japan under-20 international Mike Havenaar, but Avispa are experiencing a truly wretched season, which might explain why the website hasn't been updated in a while.

Still, it's a worthwhile stop for fans of J2, with multi-lingual author Endo a passionate advocate of the Japanese game.

Plenty of new sites continue to pop up on a regular basis, including the likes of an FC Tokyo fansite Aishiteru Tokyo (www.aishiteru-tokyo.com), the ever-expanding S-Pulse UK Ultras blog (s-pulseukultras.blogspot.com) and Consadole Ole! (www.consadole.net/carlossb) - an account of Consadole Sapporo's fortunes as viewed by an English-speaking Spaniard, as well as old favourites like Alan's Jsoccer (www.jsoccer.com).

Further proof - if it was needed, that the world game truly does command a global audience.

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