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kushiro

Okazaki interviews, comments and pictures from the Japanese media

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Thanks so much for the positive comments about Shinji's dairy.​

 

 

 

I would happily put a lot more of the diary up here, but there's something stopping me. I may be wrong, but I think Shinji wrote it just for a Japanese audience and wouldn't necessarily approve of it being widely available in the UK. So I've just translated a few short cherry-picked highlights. Japanese people separate their public face (they call it 'tatemae') from their private feelings ('honne'), and I think there is an analogous separation between Shinji's comments for those in the UK (Ranieri, club staff, teammates and fans) and for those at home. For us he's the selfless hard worker, never complaining even though he's never used in his favourite position and he's invariably dragged off after 60 minutes. In the diary you see a different Okazaki. To go into more detail would feel almost like an invasion of privacy.

 

Cheers for explaining these nuances kushiro, I didn't know about that tatemae/honne disparity before. Now you got me even more interested in his diary (yes lot f us "Westerners" are like that, wanting to see the dirty bits, behind the scenes, confessions etc, and the tabloids thrive on that urge). I just hope our lad doesn't complain to the Japanese press about how he is treated or something like that!

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  • 4 weeks later...
10 minutes ago, filbertstreet said:

just found this, shinji's got a blog! it's amazing if you run it through google translate

 

http://lineblog.me/okazakishinji/

 

Brilliant. The translation isn't the best but in his latest post talking about the LA trip he's saying Ulloa and Hernandez make him laugh and they are so similar. Also they went shopping together and because those two are very tall style comes easy? lol 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/06/2016 at 06:57, kushiro said:

This looks good. Okazaki's diary of the season has been published. Yes - already.

 

The title is 'Unprecedented'  (未到 - pronounced 'mitou')    I'll put a few highlights up here.

 

IMG_0346.jpg

 

From the prologue:

 

May 1st. I'm in the dressing room after the Man U game. I didn't know whether to go home to Leicester or head for London. I've got a flat in Leicester but since January my wife and two sons have been renting a place in London. There's no training tomorrow. Normally I'd be heading for London. But tomorrow night it's the Tottenham - Chelsea game. If Tottenham fail to win, Leicester will have clinched their first ever league title. The reason I'm unsure where to head is that there's been talk of the players getting together to watch the game.

 

Everyone in the team's a good bloke, and we all get on well. Whether it's in the dressing room, on the coach or on the train, we're always joking and laughing. We like doing things so we often eat together or go out somewhere. If someone says let's watch the game togther, most of us will turn up. There would be nothing better than sharing the moment of triumph with these guys who've fought together the whole year.

 

Spend time with my family before the next game or go back to Leicester with the lads? In the end I decided to stay with the team.

 

As soon as I got back to my Leicester flat, my cell phone rang. There was a message to the Whatsapp group that all the team are part of. It was from ace striker Jamie Vardy. As expected, he was inviting us to see the game. 'Let's all watch the game at my place tomorrow!', he said. Replies from teammates quickly followed:

 

'Sure. I've gotta be there!'

 

'Is Vard's place OK?'

 

'His place is biggest'

 

'Fine. I'll get some drinks.'

 

Everyone was saying they'd be going. As I saw the messages flying about on WhatsApp, I got a renewed sense of our team spirit. Not wanting to miss out, I replied:

 

'I'll be there!'

 

 

 

Hey mate do you know if his Diary is available to buy through amazon in the UK? Starting to learn Japanese and thought his diary would be a good tool to help learn, as well as gain some insight into him as a person (although I do understand if it isn't available to purchase due to the public life/home life thing you talked about on the last page)

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10 hours ago, TheMightySystem said:

Hey mate do you know if his Diary is available to buy through amazon in the UK? Starting to learn Japanese and thought his diary would be a good tool to help learn, as well as gain some insight into him as a person (although I do understand if it isn't available to purchase due to the public life/home life thing you talked about on the last page)

 

Doubt it's on amazon UK but here's the English page from Amazon japan. You'll have to create an account but I think it should be possible. Google instructions if you're struggling.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/未到-奇跡の一年-ベスト新書-岡崎-慎司/dp/4584125244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472165155&sr=8-1&keywords=岡崎慎司

Good luck with the japanese study,

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  • 1 month later...

A round-up of a few recent things:

 

1) Here's one for Union FS - this is how Japan's top sports magazine intoduced thier guide to the Premier League season:

IMG_4181.jpg

 

 

 

2)  Regulars on this thread will know how mind-bogglingly comprehensive some Japanese magazines can be in thier coverage of European football. This appeared recently - a nearly 100 page guide to 'The search for the second Leicester'.  It went through all the top European leagues picking out their tips for a shock league win in 2016/17.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/月刊フットボリスタ-2016年10月号/dp/B01J4AC8G0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475406006&sr=1-1&keywords=footballista

 

These were the candidates they put forward from the Premier League:

 

Everton

West Ham (!)

Middlesbrough

Watford

Stoke (!!)

 

 

3) Not been the greatest few weeks for Shinji. But his two Chelsea goals got a lot of coverage. This reads 'Dropped by club and country - BANG, BANG! - Shinji is back with two dorokusai goals!'    (It's that word again - dorokusai meaning 'reeking of mud')

IMG_0450.jpg

 

 

 

4) It's been tough for the Japanese TV channel covering the Champions League this season. After spending a fortune on advertising the fact that three top Japanese players were due to appear (Shinji, Kagawa at Dortmund, Kiyotake at Sevilla), after two rounds of matches, none of those three have spent a single minute on the pitch. Here's the coverage after the Porto game. Headline reads: 'New Signing is First Choice. Okazaki: 'This is My Current Position'  

IMG_0466.jpg

 

It will be interesting to see if Shinji can win his place back in the Japanese team for the huge games against Iraq and Australia next week. He was dropped for game in Thailand last month, and Haraguchi and Asano who were brought into the team both scored in the 2-0 win.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is from the magazine I mentioned above - 'The Search for the Second Leicester'. All of the clubs you can see listed are assessed for their ’レスター度’ - which you could tranlsate as 'the extent to which they resemble Leicester'.

 

How can you capture that idea in one English word?

 

Leicesterness?

Leicesterdom?

Leicesterosity?

 

No, I think it's got to be:

 

Leicestericity.

 

IMG_0471.jpg

 

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  • 1 month later...

A few things to catch up on from over here. First of all, Shinji has yet another book out. There are now FOUR Shinji themed books on the shelves here. The diary of last season, the 'Why has Shinji succeeded in England' one, the autobiography that's just been reprinted, and now - Keep Fit with Shinji!  With free DVD!

 

IMG_0535.jpg

 

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Here's the coverage from Wednesday morning: Headline: 'First start, and first goal in the Champions League'

IMG_4399.jpg

 

He's the 7th Japanese player to score in the competition. The first was Yasuhiko Onadera, for Cologne at Forest in an amzing European Cup semi-final in 1979, which prompted the headline 'Jap sub sinks Brian's boat' in the Daily Mirror (he'd just come on, and his first involvement was a 25 yeard shot that Shilton let slip under his body).

 

But back to Tuesday - Shinji Kagawa scored two for Borussia Dortmund on the same night. The シンジ characters here mean 'Shinji'. The headline reads 'Pair that were dropped by their country both score on the same day' (both were left out of the recent World Cup qualifier, with boss Halilhodzic saying that they both needed to get regular starts for their club to boost their chances of national selection).

IMG_4402.jpg 

 

 

 

Edited by kushiro
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That 'Keep Fit with Shinji' book/DVD is the perfect wacky Christmas present. Here's the link to the Amazon page:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/岡崎慎司-カラダ覚醒メソッド-学研スポーツブックス/dp/4058006757/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480411549&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=岡崎慎司 カラだ覚醒

I'd love to see an English version - I can just imagine it being advertised on the electronic pitch-side boards, like Vardy's book was on Saturday.

 

This is what's inside:

IMG_0533.jpg

 

 

Nice to see Shinji using the same moves in the Palace game recently:

shinji_14.jpg

 

shinji_14_3.jpg

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Lots of Shinji coverage in the Monday morning sports papers:

IMG_0563.jpg

 

IMG_0562.jpg

 

He describes the goal like this: 'I made a direct run, then caught it really nicely'.

 

The phrase I've translated here as 'caught nicely', 振り抜いた ('furinuita'), is usually used here in baseball - and means something like 'swinging through the ball'. You could say the same about his other recent goals - against Palace and Bruges - striking the ball beautifully (and in full stride too). Maybe someone should start a thread called 'Will Shinji ever score another scruffy goal?' 

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