<figure id="attachment_372860" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3785px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-372860"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="478738e5"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/05/60c00a73237815c8f73e3182d0c02b70.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-372860" class="wp-caption-text">Pointing to this magazine&#8217;s photographer: &#8230;&#8230; (May 6, &#8217;94 issue)</figcaption></figure>
<p>What did &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? Playback Friday&#8221; takes a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we bring you &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">Kazu&#8217;s harsh advice to Jo: &#8216;Be careful</span> with Friday,'&#8221; which appeared in the May 6, 1994 issue 30 years ago.</p>
<p>After the &#8220;Doha Tragedy&#8221; in 1993, Japan&#8217;s national soccer team welcomed coach Falcão and made a fresh start toward the World Cup in France in 1998. This article tells the story of the relationship between Tomoyoshi Miura (27), then known as King Kazu, and Shoji Shiro (18), then the rising star of the J.League, who was the &#8220;face&#8221; of the newly established J.League and a key figure in the national team. (Descriptions in parentheses below are taken from past articles.)</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Legend and next-generation ace share room at training camp&#8230;</span></h3>
<p>The new Falcán Japan team has changed since the days of former coach Offutt, with more than half of the 22 members being new, and the first training camp, which began on April 17, was difficult as the players did not know each other.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> One player missed a shot from a great position in front of the goal. Kazu immediately chided him, saying, &#8220;I, ha, la! However, upon closer inspection, it turned out that it was not Masami Ihara (then 26), but Masahiro Endo (then 23, now renamed Masahiro Endo). Kazu noticed and shouted out,</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> What the heck, it&#8217;s Endo!</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I thought I was just trying to cool him down, but on the contrary, I was embarrassed. The &#8220;new Nippon&#8221; has to start over from the very basics, which is quite a task.</span></p>
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<p>Among the new members of the national team, the most notable was Shoji Shiro, who has scored in four consecutive games since his debut in the opening round. Moreover, he shared a room with Kazu at the training camp. It seems that Kazu was giving advice to the future superstar, who would also be his rival.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Pointing at the photographer of this magazine ......"></div>
<p><span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Kazu-san is very kind to me. When he is in the room, he teaches me many things and also gives me harsh pointers. I want to stay as close to Kazu-san as possible and learn from his attitude toward soccer.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Mr. Castle seems to be fascinated by Kazu. His advice is not limited to technical aspects. In the past, Castle rarely stopped to answer questions when surrounded by the press. Overnight, however, he had changed drastically. On this day, he was seen stopping in front of the waiting room and politely answering questions. This was apparently due to the &#8220;teachings&#8221; of Mr. Kazu, who is well versed in the art of handling the mass media.</span></p>
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<p>The above photo is the final piece of &#8220;advice. Kazu pointed at the photographer and said to Castle, as if biting his tongue, &#8220;This is the photographer from Friday.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> This is the Friday photographer. Castle, be careful.</span></p>
<p>Of course, this was Kazu&#8217;s lip service to the magazine. In fact, Kazu seemed to have memorized the faces and company names of all the reporters and photographers from the media. In the article, the magazine&#8217;s cameraman recounts his memories of Kaz.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> When I went to take pictures of Kawasaki&#8217;s practice, he would run all the way back to me and say, &#8216;Friday, go over there.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Last year at the Japan national team&#8217;s training camp in Spain, Kaz and Masashi Nakayama (Masashi Nakayama) bumped into him while he was running, saying, &#8220;Hey, Friday! Of course, this was Kazu&#8217;s first-class expression of affection (?). expression of affection. As proof, &#8220;I was moved when they later asked me to shake hands with them and said, &#8216;Let&#8217;s get along.</span></p>
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<p>Kaz also exchanged words with reporters on the field instead of immediately going into the waiting room when he came to the practice field. Under the tutelage of Kazu, Castle began his path to becoming a superstar.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="You can see Kazu and Castle after that at ......"></div>
<p>Falcão Japan started with many young players, but failed to produce results, and Falcão was dismissed at the Asian Games in the fall. That year, Kaz moved to Genoa of Italy&#8217;s Serie A, then known as the &#8220;world&#8217;s best league,&#8221; and became the first Asian to play in Serie A.&#8221; After returning to Japan in 1995, he continued to play in the J-League and for the national team, but suffered the humiliation of not being selected for the World Cup in France, even though he had participated in the training camp in Switzerland just prior to the tournament. He never made it to the World Cup again.</p>
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<p>Jo, on the other hand, replaced Kazu as the ace striker in the World Cup finals in France, but he did not score any goals and the team lost all three games. He was also treated as a &#8220;war criminal&#8221; for <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;laughing after missing a shot,&#8221;</span> and was sprayed with water by a fan at Narita New Tokyo International Airport when he returned to Japan.</p>
<p>In 2000, he became the first Japanese player to play in the Spanish First Division, but a knee injury that he had suffered since high school reached its limit, and he retired in 2006. Kazu regretted Castle&#8217;s retirement, saying, &#8220;He is younger than me.</p>
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<p>At 57, Kaz is still active with UD Oliveirense, a Portuguese second-division club. He seems to have no intention of quitting his active career, although it seems that he has not been blessed with many opportunities to play. In March of this year, he was interviewed by Go Kitazawa on &#8220;Sunday PUSH Sports&#8221; (NTV) and said the following.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> If you ask me how old I want to be, I want to do it forever; I want to do it whether I am 70 (years old) or 80 (years old).&#8221;</span></p>
<p>Just as he was at the time of this article, Kaz is still a legend.</p>


 Shinya Inui

 In this issue of "Playback," we look back at what we reported 10, 20, and 30 years ago. In this issue, we will introduce the "advice" that Kazu gave to his roommate, Jo, at the first training camp of the new Falkan Japan in 1994.

Playback 1994: The Day King Kazu Warned Our Photographer, “Watch Out for FRIDAY”

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