With yet another raft of Japanese players currently making their European club debuts, J. League fans could be forgiven for wondering what is left for them when the season starts next month.
Transfers are a fact of life for any league, but the rate of players leaving Japan in recent months has been exceptional. Akihiro Ienaga and Ryo Miyaichi both played their first games for Mallorca and Feyenoord, respectively, over the weekend, while Michihiro Yasuda, Shinji Okazaki, Tomoaki Makino and Hajime Hosogai are among those taking their first steps in foreign countries.
Factor in last summer's departures, when five of Japan's World Cup squad plus rising star Shinji Kagawa and Korean pair Chong Tese and Lee Jung Soo all left midseason, and the past six months have resembled nothing short of an exodus. But while deals struck in the wake of the world's biggest tournament are inevitable, this winter's moves have highlighted a new trend.