Konnichiwa! Brighton are heading to Japan this summer for a pre-season tour where they will play two friendly games at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
Built for the Olympics, it holds 68,000 and will give the Albion the opportunity to find out just how much Mitoma Mania has gripped the Land of the Rising Sun.
The first match comes against Kashima Antlers on Wednesday July 24th. Four days later and Brighton will face Tokyo Verdy. The two fixtures kick off at 10.30am and 11am English time respectively.
Mitoma Mania
Brighton would clearly not be heading to Japan had Kaoru Mitoma not proven such a success in his two seasons at the Amex Stadium.
It would therefore be Typical Brighton for Mitoma not to play on the tour. This could happen for any of three reasons.
Most likely is that Mitoma does not recover sufficiently from the back problem which has ruled him out since February.
There also remains the prospect Mitoma could be sold before Brighton touch down in Tokyo. He had been attracting interest from Barcelona amongst others before that season-ending back injury.
Back issues are notorious for leading to other complications due to their connection to most major muscle groups. Whether any club is willing to be big money for Mitoma before he proves he is the same player as before remains to be seen.
The third possibility is Mitoma receives a call up to play for Japan at the Olympics. The Blue Samurai will be preparing for action in Paris at the same time as Brighton visit Japan.
Whilst the presence of Mitoma is certain to dictate local interest, Brighton supporters will have a keen interest in the club’s first ever tour of the Far East regardless.
It takes place in a crucial period of pre-season when whoever the next Brighton head coach is will be formulating his plans with the Premier League campaign only three weeks away.
So, what of the two opponents the Albion will take on in Japan?
Kashima Antlers
Since the inception of the J-League in 1993, Kashima Antlers have been the most successful club in Japanese football. They have eight titles, six J-League Cups, five Emperor’s Cups, six Super Cups and one Asian Champions League.
The name Antlers is derived from the city of Kashima, which literally translates to Deer Island. Brazilian legend Zico is their current technical director whilst 10 of their 19 managers in the J-League Era have hailed from Brazil.
Tokyo Verdy
Tokyo Verdy are the MK Dons of Japanese football. They started out life as Yomiuri FC in Tokyo, then moved to Kawasaki before returning to Tokyo in 2001 in an attempt to attract bigger crowds as Tokyo Verdy.
They enjoyed plenty of success before the J-League Era, holding a record 25 titles overall. Times though have been harder recently and Verdy spent 14 years between 2009 and 2024 in the second tier of Japanese football.
Verdy secured their return to the top flight at the end of last season in dramatic fashion. Itsuki Someno scored a 96th minute equaliser from the penalty spot in the promotion playoff final against Shimizu S-Pulse.
As the game finished 1-1, Verdy were promoted due to being the top-ranked side coming into the playoffs. The Japanese seemingly do not believe in the lottery of penalties.
