Cultural problem? What? I play muck around stuff with Japanese guys here at my Uni at Gifu and the guys shoot when they can.
How about we take Miura Kazuyoshi as a prime example of a good Japanese striker. Hell, even Naohiro Takahara was doing alright before he moved back to Japan.
'Complex cultural reasons' my left buttock.

I think when Takeshi Okada, the coach of the national team, comes out and links it directly as one of the reasons that his team is struggling to score goals (and if you can find the Daily Yomiuri article of August 27 entitled "Okada says Japan need to find killer instinct" archived online, please let me know as I had originally intended to link back to it) then we can safely assume that a much weightier authority than myself has suggested that it's a problem.

Okay, there's a link to the article I refer to c/- Furtho up on the When Saturday Comes message boards.

LINK

I've noticed a trend that J-league teams are signing younger Brazilian players. I believe that this is a good move because the younger Japanese strikers can learn from other players their own age and these Brazilian players are getting the playing time that they need to improve their self-confidence. Hulk is a prime example of this. Because of the amount of goals that he scored his self-confidence skyrocketed and look where he is now. Playing in the Champions league and he's still scoring goals for Porto. I'm hoping that a new Japanese striker with the qualities of a Brazilian will emerge. Some of the younger players right now are pretty disappointing. Morimoto looks promising, but players like Tadanari Lee and Sergio Escuerdo or not players that the national team needs. They are not strikers, but support players up top. Its too bad that Chong Tese did not choose to play for Japan. The aspect that Japanese players lack is an ego.

I just read the match report and WHY WERE ADELAIDE using a 17 YEAR OLD Goalkeeper? Are they having an injury crisis or did they know that they had no chance?

First choice keeper Eugene Galekovic was suspended.

Chong Tese would certainly give Japan plenty more options. On his day, that guy is utterly unstoppable.

One player that has caught my eye(and most of Japan for that matter) is Usami. He seems to display the traits necessary for a good striker. I like his selfishness and I believe that it is necessary for Japan to succeed. People have been talking about Kakitani, but to be honest he seems like a Daisuke Matsui. I know that he has scored goals and he plays forward and I like his cleverness, but he doesn't seem like a goal-scoring machine. I was wondering what type of player Genki Omae was. I've never seen him play, but I've heard about his scoring exploits and I was wondering if he was the answer to Japan's problems.

Genki Omae is only 165cm tall. He's more of an attacking midfielder than anything.

Not that I think they're necessarily great players, but I always thought it was a bit of shame that Mike Havenaar and, to a certain extent, Robert Cullen have struggled to get regular playing time over the past couple of years.

Since Yasuharu Sorimachi took Montedio Yamagata striker Yohei Toyoda along to the Olympics in case he wanted to "change things up," I always thought that might have been a decent enough reason to really try and develop Mike Havenaar for the national team. Couldn't be any worse than simply sending Marcus Tulio Tanaka up for front for the final five minutes of matches, surely?

Sorry... One quick question. Is there going to be a J2 relegation/JFL promotion this year? My poor Tokushima Vortis =(

so mike havenaar is japanese? i don`t catch as much j-league as i`d like. even though i am over here.

question mike, does japan have to learn to live with culturally based deficiencies (in their strikers), or do they try to develop some "unjapanese" strikers?

the australian footballing media really shouldn`t be taken seriously. if you watch a game, and then read an "analysis" of it, you will be amazed by how much your take, and what you are reading, differ. even craig foster has his hairbrained days.

Yes Mike Havenaar is Japanese. He's still only quite young, but he's tall and he's a direct kind of player. I remember him coming off the bench for Yokohama F. Marinos at Nihondaira in Round 15 in 2007 and causing all sorts of problems for the S-Pulse defence and eventually forcing Shimizu into a late own-goal as Marinos equalised at the death. He was struggling to get into the team under Hiroshi Hayano and so left for Avispa Fukuoka on loan this season, but since the dismissal of Pierre Littbarski he's been in and out of the starting line up there too.

I think Japan have had some "unJapanese" strikers in the past, Naohiro Takahara being the best of them. But it's about maintaining that kind of form over a career, not having having a few good seasons at Jubilo Iwata and then another good season for Eintracht Frankfurt over the course of a decade.

I think when the foreign coaches come in they generally try and develop a more ruthless streak in the strikers here, but it's tough when 'group mentality' is all you know, to suddenly come in and start being selfish and individualistic in front of goal.

And Kenny... I'm pretty sure there's no relegation from J2 just yet, so your Tokushima Vortis are safe for another year!

the women`s teams seem to be building for the future well.

and excellent finishing is a part of their play. heard some big wraps for the u-17s women at the recent WC.

a couple of a-league teams don`t seem too fussed about grabbing foreign players. and i am kinda glad. matt simon at CCM is having a great season. would he be having the same kind of season if there was a more skilled, dominant personality, brazillian striker on their books? maybe not.

are their any j1 or j2 teams who have just opted to not have foreigners?

Every single team in J1 has atleast 1 foreign player.
In J2 Vegalta Sendai, Thespa Kusatsu, FC Gifu, Ehime FC,and Roasso Kumamoto do not have any foreign players.

Who do you think would be more suited at left-back on the national team? Yasuda or Nagatomo? Japan is really coming out with some young quality backs like Uchida and Yasuda.

I haven't been particularly impressed by what I've seen of Nagamoto. He's probably a better defender than Yasuda is though.

I think FC Tokyo's other full-back, Yuhei Tokunaga, is a decent player though.

Congratulations on your Emperor's cup win! It was an amazing game. Who scored Shimizu's second? It was a screamer!

The cultural divide seems to be generational. Looking at the strikers and even midfielders coming out of university in the past 3 or 4 years you will see an amazing amount of difference in shooting prowess. The pro players I know who have graduated recently from Kokushikan and Tsukuba Universities, at least, have told me that they have seen a shift in coaching youth from technical and mechanical forms into something more organic. Looking at recent college players like Mito's Arata, you see a fearlessness and a willingness to take chances not evident in older players. He's gained somenotice for his goalscoring technique and frequency, but all of that boils down to a single fact: he has taken more shots than anyone else in Japanese soccer. He understands that there is no shame in missing 10 times if you can make one goal that wins the game.

And on JFL relegation, it will never come into play. After J2 reaches 22 teams the process will start to create a J3 division, to which relegation would be necessary for its inaugural year. JFL will remain the top division for company and amateur clubs.

The scorer of that second goal was 21-year-old midfielder Masaki Yamamoto, who has been Shimizu's most impressive young player this season.

I have to agree with Vendo in that there does seem to be somewhat of a generational shift coming into play in terms of taking shots on goal.

Even when S-Pulse were struggling midway through the season it was obvious that coach (and former striker) Kenta Hasegawa had a word to front men Shinji Okazaki and Kazuki Hara to take more strikes on goal, because Okazaki in particular suddenly became a fairly prolific shooter when in the past certain members of the S-Pulse XI had been guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net.

Just found this video on youtube. This is to your response that Australians are ignorant towards Japanese football. If you watch this LINK It's a good report on the 2nd leg of the game. Atleast the announcer admits that Gamba ARE NOT the strongest side in Japan. And he also mentions that there is a large gulf between the J-league and the A-league.