A Postcard from Japan: Maeda, Japan’s Silent Running Man

Ahead of today's Scottish Cup Final, J. League expert Anthony Fensom explains the making of Celtic's relentless Player of the Year

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By Anthony Fensom

In his high school days, Daizen Maeda was nicknamed ‘Prius’ in recognition of his stealth-like ability to press opponents. “Speedy players tend to press like a Ferrari — but that makes the opponent notice,” said Maeda, with a glint in his eye. Scottish Premiership defenders — and a few in this season’s Champions League — know what it’s like to get caught in the headlights of Celtic’s Prius.

After a monster season which has saw him sweep the Player of the Year awards, maybe the Ferrari comparison is more apt. Thirty-three goals. Eleven assists. The Scottish Premier League title. The League Cup. Winning the Scottish Cup this afternoon against Aberdeen would complete a domestic treble.

Even then, however, it is unlikely to attract much attention in Japan, where the exploits of Brighton’s Karou Mitoma are of greater interest to Japanese football fans. Times have changed since Shunsuke Nakamura’s trailblazing achievements at Celtic. Japanese players are now a common presence in Europe’s top five leagues, though there remains an appreciation of Maeda’s achievements at domestic and international level.

Maeda comes from Osaka Prefecture and was originally a gymnast, before switching to football in the fourth grade of elementary school after discovering he was “too stiff and didn’t like flexibility exercises.”

As a teenager, he joined one of Japan’s top high schools for athletes, Yamanashi Gakuin University High School, which has produced 71 Japanese Olympians since its founding in 1946. He played as a striker for the school’s football team, using his natural speed as a weapon, but reportedly was an “egotistical player” who “lacked defensive awareness”.

Disciplinary issues led to Maeda being expelled from the school team, a harsh punishment in group-oriented Japan. During his time away from the game, he worked part-time at a bakery, learning more about teamwork and self-sacrifice.

“Until then, I had been a bit of a troublemaker, and I only thought about myself, both on and off the pitch”, he told Japanese magazine Sports Graphic Number Web. “During that year, I learned that I can’t do everything myself, that I can play better with support, and the importance of running for the team. This inevitably led to my current playing style.”

Maeda celebrates opening the scoring against Hibs in the Scottish Cup quarter-final, one of seven goals the Japanese has netted in Celtic’s march to today’s trophy showdown against Aberdeen

Maeda eventually did get noticed, making his J. League debut in February 2016 at Matsumoto Yamaga FC. A loan move to another J. League club, Mito HollyHock, saw him score 13 goals in 36 appearances, earning him attention as a hardworking forward who could make an impact from either wing, behind a No.9 or as an outright striker.

This helped him win his first cap for Japan at Copa America 2019, while Maeda gained his first taste of Europe with a loan spell at Portuguese club Maritimo, scoring three goals in 23 appearances.

In August 2020, Maeda returned to Japan with a loan move to Yokohama F. Marinos, where he established himself as one of the best strikers in the J. League. Maeda’s 2021 season saw him become the J. League’s top scorer with 23 goals. He also recorded the most sprints by any J. League player, clocking a record 64 in a single game, with his speed allowing him to run 50 metres in under five seconds.

His impressive form was noted by his then coach, Ange Postecoglou, who described him as “a selfless, team player [who] just does the stuff that doesn’t often get the recognition”.

After delivering a championship to the Marinos, Postecoglou joined Celtic in July 2021. On December 31 that year, Celtic announced the signing of three Japanese players: Maeda, Gamba Osaka’s Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate from Kawasaki Frontale, with Hatate and Maeda becoming first-team regulars. That Prius engine has been running non-stop ever since.

The departure of Kyogo Furuhashi to French club Rennes for £10million in January this year has afforded Maeda the opportunity to take his game to another level. The one-man pressing machine has become a prolific central striker.

Off the pitch, Maeda describes his family as “a great source of strength… When I come home late after a game and see that dinner is ready and my children are sleeping, my fatigue disappears in an instant”.

His goal celebration in which he clasps both hands and raises them on either side of his face, is seen as an imitation of ‘Anpanman’, his daughter’s favourite Japanese anime character. It has become a familiar sight in Scotland this season.

Anthony Fensom is a former Tokyo expat and Japanese newspaper staffer who has followed the growth of Japanese football since the 2002 World Cup. A freelance writer and communications consultant, he has written for a range of publications in the UK, Japan, the US and Australia.