Japan will be participating in its eighth consecutive World Cup finals this summer, with a whole host of players made in the J.LEAGUE set to star for the Samurai Blue in North America.
As well as taking their first steps in the J.LEAGUE, many players with national team and overseas experience also opt to return to Japan to showcase their quality and pass on their knowledge to the next generation of talent.
Here are just some of those Samurai Blue icons set to feature in the upcoming MEIJI YASUDA J1 100 YEAR VISION LEAGUE.
Yuto Nagatomo (FC TOKYO)
FC TOKYO legend Nagatomo made his first appearance for the club back in 2008, quickly establishing himself as a regular before sealing a move to Cesena FC in Italy after impressing for Japan at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Nagatomo’s rise continued when he joined Serie A powerhouse Inter in 2011, where he stayed for seven years before moving to Galatasaray SK of Turkey and then on to French side Olympique de Marseille in 2020.
The lure of a return to FC TOKYO was too much to resist though, and in September 2021 Nagatomo headed back to Ajinomoto Stadium.
Since returning the Ehime native has continued to play a key role - in total he has made 197 J1 appearances for the club - and this summer he will be aiming to appear at an incredible fifth World Cup finals.
Yuya Osako (Vissel Kobe)
A highly-regarded prospect after shining in the high school game, Osako burst onto the J.LEAGUE scene with Kashima Antlers in 2009.
After scoring 40 goals in five seasons for the J.LEAGUE’s most successful club, Osako transferred to German side TSV 1860 München in January 2014, before swiftly moving on to top flight Bundesliga outfit 1. FC Köln in June of the same year and then joining SV Werder Bremen in 2018.
Three years later Osako was tempted back to the J.LEAGUE by Vissel Kobe, and since his arrival the club has enjoyed the most successful spell in its history, winning consecutive MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE titles in 2023 and 2024 and the Emperor's Cup JFA 104th Japan Football Championship.
Osako has played some of the best football of his career since returning, scoring 52 league goals and finishing as joint top scorer in the 2023 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE after finding the net 22 times - a year in which he was also crowned J.LEAGUE Player of the Year.
Yoshinori Muto (Vissel Kobe)
Muto is another player who has been pivotal to Vissel Kobe’s recent glories, and another to have lit up the J.LEAGUE as both a precocious young player and seasoned veteran.
After finding the net 23 times in just 51 games for FC TOKYO between 2013 and 2015, Muto was snapped up by 1. FSV Mainz 05 of the German Bundesliga, after which he also played in the English Premier League for Newcastle United and La Liga in Spain for SD Eibar.
Vissel Kobe then came calling in the summer of 2021, where Muto has shown similar attacking instincts to his first spell in the J.LEAGUE, putting up 35 goals in 130 games.
His most clinical campaign came in 2024, when Muto struck 13 times and was named J.LEAGUE Player of the Year as Kobe successfully defended the MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE title they had won for the first time in their history the previous season.
Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Widely considered one of the most gifted Japanese players of his generation, Kagawa’s breakout season for Cerezo Osaka came in 2009 when he finished as top scorer with 27 goals in the J.LEAGUE’s second division.
He built on that with seven strikes in 11 top flight games the following season, which brought him to the attention of Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and after two years similarly impressing for them he was signed by English Premier League giant Manchester United in 2012.
Kagawa followed up his spell at Old Trafford with stints back at Dortmund and then in Turkey (Beşiktaş JK), Spain (Real Zaragoza), Greece (PAOK FC), and Belgium (STVV), before bringing his talents back to the J.LEAGUE with Cerezo Osaka in 2023.
Since then he has dropped into a deeper-lying role in midfield, and while that means he hasn’t been as prolific in front of goal Kagawa has continued to show his quality on the ball and ability to lead by example back at the club where it all began.
