The J. League’s 2023 season is shaping up, first and foremost, to be a celebration of its legacy of growth and development over the past 30 years.

And there’s certainly plenty to celebrate, with the league having expanded from 10 to 60 clubs in that period, and it now welcomes newcomers Nara Club and FC Osaka to the third-division J3.

But the well-deserved victory lap for those who have championed professional soccer in a land once dominated by baseball and sumo will also mark the end of an era, as stakeholders prepare for a number of seismic shifts that they hope will push the competition and its clubs to even greater heights.