DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Islanders' Rikiya Ishida (57) and Kohei Satomi (12) sandwiched actor Cary Tagawa after the team's 56-55 upset victory over the Quad City Steamwheelers last weekend at Blaisdell Arena.
Use your imagination for a moment and picture football in Japan. Islanders have
Eastern flavor3 Japanese players will
share their af2 experiences
with players back homeBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comThe huddles break and honorable linemen give the proper bow after taking their positions. They grunt in unison before setting, then on the snap, the banzai warriors attack like a swarm of smaller-than-usual sumo wrestlers.
Of course, the on-field bowing and grunting in unison aren't real, but football in Japan is a growing, and glowing, reality. It's played at the high school and college levels, and an arena football league is in the planning stages for a possible 2003 start.
Officials from arenafootball2 in Chicago view the Hawaiian Islanders as the logical link to Japan, Asia and the Pacific Rim.
That's why the Islanders hosted a week-long Pacific Rim training camp in February, with nearly 200 participants from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
And three players from Japan -- Kohei Satomi, Rikiya Ishida and Katsuhiro Motono --are on the Islanders' roster. All three were standouts in high school and college in Japan before coming to Hawaii.
The Islanders (4-11) close out their inaugural season tomorrow in California against Fresno (4-11) in a struggle for third place in the National Conference West Division.
"It's a worldwide game that we're creating," Islanders coach Chad Carlson said. "They're in a difficult spot, coming here and playing, learning the indoor game, learning a different language. They're the pioneers for Japan to have arena football, and you won't find three harder workers. They listen, and they're always two hours early for practice and they always stay one hour late."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Rikiya Ishida of the Hawaiian Islanders went high to block a field goal by Quad City's Brian Hegnauer last weekend.
One major drawback for the three players this year was an inability to secure working visas until late in the season, preventing them from playing in the majority of the games.
When the red-tape paperwork was finally completed, Satomi moved into a starting role as a defensive specialist and, along with some new acquisitions, helped shore up the team's weak defensive backfield, leading to three victories in five games after a nine-game losing streak.
Motono played in the team's first game, a win over Fresno, and made 2 1/2 tackles before the visa troubles started.
Ishida plays on special teams and is a backup lineman, linebacker, fullback and long snapper. In last weekend's upset of Quad City, Ishida played most of the game as a two-way lineman and he blocked a Steamwheelers' field-goal attempt.
Football is not a huge spectator sport in Japan, so the three players aren't totally used to the attention the sport gets.
"I like to hit hard," said Satomi, who played two seasons in NFL Europe. "And I like that a lot of people are watching the game, but mostly I like to hit somebody."
Satomi wanted to be a quarterback, but his first coach decided he couldn't throw and he's been a D-back ever since.
Ishida, 23, got involved in football because he's "a big guy" by Japanese standards --6-foot-1, 240 pounds.
"The size and the speed are the biggest differences between football in Japan and football in America," Ishida said through an interpreter. "Japanese people don't care too much about football -- they love baseball and sumo -- but Japanese football players have a passion and a heart for football just like they do in America."
Satomi, 25, agrees with the assessment that Japanese players don't have as much speed and aren't as big as American players.
Motono, also 25, was a running back in high school and a defensive back in college, but now he is working on playing at a new spot.
"Wide receiver is a good position for me, that's where I want to play, either in Japan or with the Islanders next year," the 5-9, 185-pound Motono said. "Arena football is played in a tight space, so I was confused and had to get used to it. I'm learning to stay low and I'm learning to play faster all the time."
All three love the lifestyle Hawaii has to offer.
"I want to live in Hawaii and I don't want to go back to Japan," the 5-10, 190-pound Satomi said, half-jokingly. "There's beautiful beaches, beautiful women, the weather is good and I get to play football."
Ishida, too, takes a liking to the beaches and the women, and he has been learning how to surf at Waikiki on an 11-foot board for the last three months.
A video crew from Japan is doing a documentary on the three players, and they are looking for sponsors to fund a television time slot. The video is intended to spread interest in arena football in the land of the rising sun. Regular football has been around in Japan since the 1920s.
"It took many years for football to work in America," Carlson said. "These guys are making a courageous adjustment and they'll bring what they've learned back to Japan.
"Motono is an undersized guy with a big heart; Rikiya is a young pup and smaller than the players he's playing against, but he's holding his own and has a great attitude; Satomi is a very intelligent guy, never complains and his life's passion is football so I hope that he decides to become a coach in Japan eventually."
And the football influence doesn't have to be a one-way street from West to East.
Perhaps some American players could learn a thing or two from the Japanese, who were raised in a culture founded on honor and respect for others, including opponents in sports.
"I've never seen or heard of a Japanese player criticize an official's call or bad-mouth an opponent," said Chuck Mills, a consultant with the Islanders who has been instrumental in the growth of college football in Japan since 1971. "I've never seen two Japanese players get in a fight. They just don't do it."
Hawaiian Islanders
