It’s fair to say that Celtic’s recruitment of Japanese players under manager Ange Postecoglou has definitely been a success overall since he came to the club in the summer on 2021.
And from the sort displays we are seeing from new recruits Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi are anything to go by, it looks they they are also going to greatly add to Celtic’s success for the time they will remain here.
Of course, our Japanese bhoys are all individual players and individual people, and they all have their own unique set of skills and qualities.
Kyogo is an excellent goal scorer with some of the best attacking movement you will see anywhere in football and he has the hard work to go with it.
Hatate is a midfield maestro who appears to have eyes on the back of his head at times. He can tackle, pick a pass and also has an eye for goal.
And Maeda is not only one of the fastest players that we have had at Celtic in a very long time in his position, but also one of the most hard working players you will see anywhere in football, with an engine that allows him to run all day and not even look slightly tired come the end of the game.
Bu one thing all our Japanese bhoys do seem to have in common in their humility, kindness and eagerness to help others.
Every game we see them helping out and tending to opposition players if they have been fouled or are injured and it’s something that you just don’t see in football, well, certainly not to the extend and how often they do it.
It appears second nature to them.
They even offer help to downed ‘Rangers’ players! I think most fans and their teammates would rather they didn’t help them right enough! But it’s just the way they are and they truly are a great representation of Celtic football club.
A tweet popped up on my timeline tonight from a popular Twitter account that shares good news and nice clips from around the world to cheer people up, and they posted a clip from Japan of a person falling and spilling everything they had, and almost everyone around stopped to help them to check if they were ok and to help pick their items up and he basically pointed out that this helping nature is universal among Japanese people.
The tweet prompted others others to respond with similar stories and accounts from Japan as a country and it’s people, and it made me think about our Japanese bhoys and thought it might be quite interesting to share.
Check out the tweet and replies below.
