Thanks to Oddbjorn in Norway for keeping me up to date on rumours…. after a lot of travelling and trials at various clubs in various countries (often detailed on TV in Japan as a kind of reality TV trip!), Daigo Kobayashi has joined Stab

Now’s your chance to take a trip to Tochigi, Kumamoto, Kusatsu, Gifu, Okayama… what are you waiting for?!

Here are the J1 fixtures for 2009… start planning that trip to Chiba, Kashiwa, Oita, and more!

Peter tells us that the Yomiuri Group is going to sell Verdy to a group called Risou Education Ltd.

Let me be the first to start the Inamoto to Vissel Kobe rumour, which could well have some mileage in it – probably at the end of the season in Europe…. while the Shunsuke to Vissel rumour that I am about to start may not be as far-fetched as it seems, as I write if Mikitani – president of Vissel and all-round rich boss of Rakuten – is as serious as i’ve heard, Miyamoto is just the beginning!Can’t wait for the new season!!

If we have often thought that the J.League was tight… seen the Premier League lately?It’s 3 points (one win) from 20th to 12th – the bottom nine place are all within three points!If we take it a little further, from 8th position to the bottom, 20th – it is ONLY 7 points!On the other hand from 8th to 5th, it’s 14 points, before the top four (including Aston Villa) are separated by only three points, though Liverpool may add two points to that on Monday night.While the top 5 are probably fixed already, just the order to sort out, ANY of the 13 teams from 8th to bottom could easily go down!Amazing, J? Who wants to predict the relegated teams from the Premier League?I’ll go for West Brom, Stoke and Portsmouth? Any other offers?

As expected – for the UK the player needs to have played in 75% of the last two year’s worth of internationals (usually)… Ienaga’s work permit application was rejected…. so how did they handle it at Celtic with Koki Mizuno, I wonder? Or is Scotland a different case from England?http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12876_4803025,00.html

It’s true… Vissel’s two main forwards have taken the stage out of town, but the cash received and the youth coming through bodes well for Vissel, I believe…. the Brazilian imports look decent enough and then there’s TSUNEYASU MIYAMOTO, who will announce his signing for Vissel Kobe today at a press conference…. Mr. Japanese Football, in my opinion, immensely popular with fans, players and press alike, intelligent and talented and all-round nice guy… welcome to Kobe, Tsune! This can only be good for Vissel Kobe.

Okubo started for Wolfsburg and scored their first goal in a 4-0 demolition of Greuther F

Here are the groups that feature a Japanese team… FYI… looking forward to it!