Japanese Rules by Sebastian Moffett
Who needs football? A little over 10 years ago the Japanese decided they did. After treating it as an irrelevant sport for over 100 years they launched a national project aimed at enrolling themselves as one of the world's footballing powers. Money was no problem. When the professional J. League was set up in 1993, it was hyped and financed by some of the country's richest organisations and attracted high-profile members of the world's footballing aristocracy such as Zico, Gary Lineker, Arsene Wenger and Ossie Ardilles. The Japanese players were dedicated to the cause and even the fans studied, scrutinising the crowds in satellite TV broadcasts to learn the best way to support their teams. Football did indeed become more than a genuine game for Japan. It was going to help the country change, to make it more like the rest of the world. It would make the Japanese more internationally-minded, creative, expressive - everything they were not, but felt they needed to be. It was, according to J. league founder Saburo Kawabuchi, 'an attempt at social revolution'. In the year following their successful hosting of a spectacular World Cup, Japanese Rules shows what worked, what didn't and why.
Sebastian Moffett was born in Watford in 1965, and grew up there and in London. He has spent most of his adult life in Japan, and has an MA in Japanese studies from the SOAS. He spent a year as an intern on a local paper in Kanazawa, on the Japan Sea coast, and since 1990 has worked as a correspondent for Reuters, the Far Eastern Economic Review and Time. He now contributes to Business Week and the International Herald Tribune, and watches large numbers of J.League matches.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780224062060 |
| ISBN 10 | 0224062069 |
| Title | Japanese Rules |
| Author | Sebastian Moffett |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2003-05-01 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |