Kyoto University's football team recently revealed that it had acquired Adam Seward, a former NFL player, as its new linebackers coach — perhaps the biggest news before the Kansai collegiate season kicked off this past weekend.

And as much as the Gangsters — and everyone in Japanese football circles — are delighted to have someone like him, Seward, who played in the NFL as a linebacker and on special teams for five seasons from 2005, was thrilled to take the opportunity because he had been inspired by his Japanese friends and had wanted to live in the country.

“It has always been a dream of mine to live in Japan,” Seward told The Japan Times in an e-mail interview. “When I was a student-athlete at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I had a Japanese friend named Kentaro who really turned me on to Japanese culture. He taught me how to write hiragana, and we often spent time eating Japanese food together.”