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If
you can guarantee one thing about the English, it’s that when
we find ourselves in possession of a stereotype, we will wring every
last drop out of it. Thus, in his time in England with Fulham, Arsenal
and West Brom, Junichi Inamoto has been referred to as an all-action
Manga Man, we’ve heard about the apparent innate politeness
of the Japanese nation, some have wondered aloud about the impact
of a sushi diet and still more have failed to understand that Japan
and China are not actually the same nation after all.
Fortunately, Ina is a pretty equable character, able to take that
kind of thing in his stride. After all, when you’re on your
own – apart from a gaggle of Japanese newsmen who dog his every
step, of which more later – half a world away from your home,
you’ve got more important issues on your mind.
How do you make yourself understood when you’re confronted
by a different language and a different alphabet?
How do you make your way in the game when you arrive at one of the
two best teams in the country, at the height of their powers with
a squad that’s the envy of Europe, while you’re still
a virtual unknown?
How do you fight your way into your new team when you’ve one
foot in plaster and then the manager who bought you decides to up
and go?
How do you carry the footballing responsibility for your nation
on your shoulders when you’re still trying to carve out a reputation
for yourself?
Swatting the odd stereotype to one side is no big deal when you’re
trying to handle that kind of pressure, is it?
Whether he likes it or not, Junichi Inamoto is more than just a
simple footballer. For all that he wants to just play his football,
to improve his game and to give more to his club and national side
– and he is utterly committed to that aim, for there aren’t
many better professionals around than Ina – he represents much
more than that, both here and abroad.
For along with the likes of Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura,
he forms a part of a new generation of Japanese footballers who
are taking their game out to the rest of the world, sporting adventurers
and explorers, out to broaden their horizons, improve their technique
and understanding of the game so that their national side can build
upon the impressive, formative steps they took when co-hosting the
2002 World Cup.
But more than that, they are part of a new wave of Japanese culture
that is going out into the world where, until recently, Japan was
much more of a consumer of western culture than exporter of its
own. Beyond its own shores, it was their technology that made the
greatest impact in the west but now, its people, its ideas and its
ideals are having a much more profound influence on the rest of
the world.
For many of the post-war years, it appeared that Japan was a sponge,
soaking up the films, the books and, especially, the music of the
west, for there was no more lucrative market for many a rock band
than Japan, even long after their musical sell by date had been
reached in Europe and the United States. Plenty of artists who we
might have thought had thrown in the towel long ago were –
and are – busy making a better than decent living by filling
the concert halls of Osaka, Tokyo and the like.
Yet just as Japanese industry conquered the world by watching, absorbing
and assimilating the knowledge amassed by their western rivals,
then going away, doing it better and selling it back to us cheaper,
our next wave of imports from the Far East are far less derivative.
For all their interest in our ideas, Japanese culture has remained
true to its roots over the years, and it is us in the west who are
becoming fascinated by Japanese food, their authors – if you
haven’t read Haruki Murakami yet, there’s no better use
for those birthday book tokens – and their way of life, particularly
the way in which such a high tech society is still so in touch with
its spirit, its soul, something that has been lost over here.
While the hippies may have dipped their toes in the waters of eastern
philosophy in the 1960s, it’s only now that ideas drawn from
Buddhism and from the Zen approach to life are gaining wider credence.
Acceptance of the moment is fundamental to that way of life and
it’s a characteristic many of us would do well to embrace.
Certainly, it is an ability that serves you well as a footballer
when you have to give up all that you have known as a child, uproot
yourself and transplant yourself into an alien world where you have
to make a name for yourself.
There must be many lonely moments in that sort of life, but living
through them one by one gives a greater perspective than simply
surrendering to the wave of negative emotions that must accompany
them.
Simple acceptance must help provide the strength of purpose and
character you need to survive such periods, as Junichi explains.
“Moving to a new country with a new language and a very different
kind of culture is a big challenge and a big risk too, but it is
something that you cannot ignore if you want to become a better
footballer. Playing the game is a short career compared with the
rest of your life so you need to be prepared to do what is necessary
to get better.
“Of course, I struggled when I first came to England, to Arsenal,
because everything was so different, there were many things that
posed difficulties for me. I missed my family and the people I knew
back home, the football was different too. But my desire to play
over in Europe, my ambition to become a better player and to further
my career was far stronger than the problems I faced or my wish
to go back home to Japan. I was homesick at times of course, but
it is just something you have to work through if you are going to
achieve what you have set out to do.”
Homesickness is perhaps the biggest battle that a footballer looking
to forge a career in a new land has to deal with, particularly someone
as young as Ina was when he first came to England, barely in his
20s.
Making your way in the western world by trying to break into Arsene
Wenger’s all conquering Arsenal team at the start of this century
was not the easiest place to start.
Faced with the likes of Vieira, Van Bronckhorst, Pires and Parlour
in the middle, chances were at a premium and Junichi collected just
a couple of League Cup starts and two substitute appearances in
the Champions League.
In spite of that, in the long term the Arsenal experience was absolutely
crucial for Ina as we’ll hear, but settling down in a strange
place without a regular first team place was hard. Even so, his
phlegmatic response to those problems is typical of him.
“Perhaps if I had come to England in the 1970s or 1980s, it
would have been different, but there were enough familiar things
around me that I felt more comfortable than might have been the
case. People here having some knowledge of Japan has made my life
easier, I am sure of that, but it is still not widespread.
“I am Japanese and of course I like to keep in touch with what
is happening at home. And to relax, it is easiest to do that with
the culture I am most familiar with, with Japanese food and so on,
that is the best way to switch off from playing football. It is
a big part of my life and I always try to keep hold of that.
“I know Japanese culture is becoming more a part of life in
the west. Cars and technology have been part of that for a long
time, but things such as Manga, our food, our writers are becoming
better known too.
I haven’t yet found a proper Japanese restaurant in Birmingham
– maybe I should open one! - but there are many in London so
if I am there on a day off or something, it is easy to get food,
to buy Japanese magazines and so on, so I don’t have any problem
with that.
At the moment, it is hard for me to tell if the western interest
in Japanese things is simply a commercial one or if they really
are interested in the way we live in the sense of our attitude to
life, our philosophy, our way of life to that extent. But little
things such as our technology have a bigger and bigger role I think
and so that does help people like me feel more at home here.”
The Inamoto factor is exemplified by the gaggle of dedicated Japanese
pressmen, photographers and TV correspondents that dog Ina’s
every move here. Just after Bryan Robson arrived at West Brom last
Autumn with Ina still clearly some way short of fitness after his
move here, it became a standing joke that the Japanese gathering,
still here in numbers in spite of Ina’s continued absence,
would wait until the end of every press conference and then ask
what became know as the Inamoto question: “Will Inamoto soon
be fit?”
Their very presence here, the intensity with which they followed
developments was not just a credit to their professionalism, but
an indicator for those of us in this country that we were dealing
with a fully fledged superstar on the other side of the globe. Suggestions
that in signing Ina Albion had bought the Japanese Beckham were
not as fanciful as we might have thought.
When asked about his pop star status, Ina is characteristically
modest, but admits that, “Japanese people are very enthusiastic
in the way they respond to people who are successful in sports or
music. It’s true in some sense that players who are with the
national team are idolised in a way, a little like pop stars in
this country and people pay attention to every little bit of your
life which is flattering.
“It is very nice that so many people are so supportive of you,
but also, having been here some time, it is nice to have the distance
that I have from that at the moment. When I live here, I am quite
anonymous and I can go where I want without being recognised most
of the time. I enjoy the quieter life over here, it is a nice change,
because even when I do get noticed in the street, I still don’t
get as much attention as I do in Japan. It is great that people
back home are so responsive, but it is also nice to be able to escape
it sometimes too! It’s a nice balance for me at present.”
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It’s a phrase that rings particularly
true in sport for many have made their reputation by appearing on
the scene when the hour is at its darkest, only to wrestle with
the fates, mould events in their image and help shape better times
ahead.
The record shows that it was a slow start to this season for Ina,
for though he performed well in West Brom's pre-season programme,
following the opening day draw at Manchester City, he dropped out
of contention for several weeks while Bryan Robson and the rest
of the coaching staff worked with him to better tailor his game
to the demands of the Premier League.
It was a tricky period for Inamoto, and for the Albion as our season
misfired at times, but patience can be the highest of virtues and
so it proved when things finally clicked into place. Looking back
on that spell on the sidelines, Ina admits that those two months
might be the most pivotal in his career.
“I enjoyed the pre-season here, I thought I played well and
of course I was disappointed when I did not play in our early games.
But the manager was rotating the squad, giving players an opportunity
and so I just had to be patient at that time and be ready to play
when my time came again.
After a little time, I sat down with the manager to discuss what
I needed to do to be in the team and there were things that he asked
me to do and I have worked hard on those and at the moment, I am
back in the team and I am pleased with how results have improved
and I think I have made a contribution to that.
“This is about the happiest I have been in England. Of course
I had a few frustrations at the start of the season but I stayed
motivated and had confidence in myself. Also, I did appreciate the
efforts the management made to improve my game by producing the
DVD of my weaknesses. I believe the improvements I have made have
made me a better player. I am in good condition and my mentality
is right.
“The manager is a great man, a legend, and he is the first
manager to have shown me a DVD of where I can improve, and that
is important as a player because you need to always look to improve.
I can only learn more from Bryan Robson, he has put great trust
in me over the last few months and I want to repay that.”
Learning more about the game was the prime reason that Inamoto left
his homeland behind to come to the west, though as he explains,
there is a more detailed footballing infrastructure in Japan than
we might imagine.
“When I was five years old back in Japan, my parents took me
to join a football club there and it was from there that I became
very interested in the game and started to improve as a player.
Football was still quite small at that time, and baseball was definitely
the most popular sport in the whole country. Unfortunately there
were no baseball clubs where I was living at the time, so that is
why I took up football instead. Otherwise I might be playing for
the Yankees instead of the Albion now!
“The structure for young players in Japan is quite similar
to what I have seen in England so far, it is more or less the same.
I was in the junior team in Osaka and from there, I worked my way
up through all of the youth teams until I was in the first team.
There is a strong structure to Japanese football now and hopefully
that will help us become more and more successful as an international
team in the years to come.
“Football really started to expand in Japan when the Brazilian
players especially began to come and play there in the 1980s. It
really was vital for the J-League that players with that ability
came to join our clubs. It meant we had the chance to learn from
all those great players, they had a very big influence on our football
and they still do – we even have Zico as the coach of the national
team now, so it still plays a very big part. And then players from
the rest of the world like Gary Lineker came to play too and it
just added to the interest there was in football. It is now a very
big sport at home.
“When I was young, I didn’t have any favourite players
as such, I think I was more interested in watching all sorts of
people to see what I could learn from them. But overall, I would
say that the Brazilian players had the biggest influence on me with
their technique, their showmanship, their attitude to football.
Those are things I have tried to bring into my game from an early
age because playing football was something I wanted to do with my
life.
“When I made my debut in the first team in Osaka when I was
16, that was when I felt I had a good opportunity to make a career
and that was a great moment for me. But I think like all Japanese
players who are ambitious to improve and be successful, I knew that
at some time I would need to leave the J-League to go and play football
elsewhere in the world. It is necessary to do that because there
are limits to how much you can learn and what you can achieve while
you stay in Japan.
“It is still a very new game in Japan compared with Europe,
and so you must go away to learn more, to complete your football
education, like going to a university. The leagues in Europe, in
Italy, in England, Germany, Spain, they are of a higher standard
than in Japan and it is only by playing regularly at that level
that you can improve.
The more Japanese players that play in Europe, the stronger we will
become, as an international team. And the players who play here
can pass on what we have learned to our team mates there, and that
will then help the J-League too. It is a long process, but we have
made a lot of progress very quickly I think.
“I was lucky that my first club in England was Arsenal because
they were very helpful to me and, being based in London, it was
not hard to get Japanese food or magazines, so that helped me to
settle too. They had so many great players there that it was hard
to break into the team, but when Arsenal ask you to join them, there
really is no reason to say no! It was difficult to get into the
team, but the chance to train with so many great players day after
day was a big thing for me, and I think my game improved a great
deal simply from doing that, it was a very important experience
for me.
“There were many good professionals there. Patrick Vieira is
a great player in a similar position to me so watching him was very
good for me, but other players were a big influence too. Tony Adams,
Lee Dixon, Martin Keown, they were players with a lot of experience
and they taught me a great deal about how to play in English football,
and that helps me even now.”
Ina’s loan spell at Arsenal came to a close in the summer of
2002, moving across London to play for Fulham, but while between
clubs, he had the opportunity to build a worldwide reputation for
himself at the World Cup, a chance he grasped with both hands as
the host nation’s star turn.
“The World Cup was a very special time in my career and for
my country too, because to play in that competition when we were
hosting it was something that does not happen to many players. The
tournament was a big success and it moved football forward a great
deal, and as a new nation, we did well.
To play in front of our home supporters and then to score goals
in the competition too, that is a great achievement in my career
and something that will be hard to beat. But I don’t think
I could have done so well had it not been for coming to England
and playing here for Arsenal.”
International football has played a big part in Ina’s career,
for good and bad. Having begun to establish himself as a Premiership
player at Fulham, he played a major role as Japan performed creditably
in the pre-Euro 2004 tournament in England. Sadly, it was a competition
that ended in disaster for Ina.
“When we played in England, we were playing very well and I
think we showed that we had improved again since the last World
Cup. It was very unfortunate that I got injured against England
because I thought I was in good form too, but to get an injury like
that was especially bad because it was in the summer in England,
at a time when I was looking to move to a new club after my time
at Fulham.
I thought that being injured would stop me but I was really surprised
when West Bromwich came in and made an offer to buy me when I was
still injured. I’m really grateful to the Club for that because
it was a big risk for them because of that, and now that things
are right again, it is important for me personally to repay that
debt by playing well on the field as often as I can.
“I feel very happy here, the supporters here have been really
good to me, ever since I came, but especially this season. To get
cheered like this from home supporters is really, really uplifting
and I am very grateful for that, and I am very excited to play here.
I am determined to play as well as I can for the rest of this season
to repay that faith that they and the Club have placed in me, that
is important to me.
“Obviously I also want to play as much as I can because of
the World Cup next summer. We want to show that we have continued
to progress since the last tournament and that we can do well outside
of our own country. We have got a very tough draw with Brazil, Australia
and Croatia, so that should be a really interesting group.
It is very exciting to have the prospect of playing against Brazil
of course, especially as there are so many links between our football
and theirs. I’m looking forward to that game, but it is the
last one in the group so ideally, we would want to play them having
already qualified for the next stage of the competition. Then we
can really enjoy the game!”
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