The J-Talk Podcast

Episode 496 - Japan 4-2 Vietnam

Japan's Asian Cup campaign got off to a shaky, but ultimately successful start on Sunday night, and in this episode we run through it all, from a slightly surprising selection decision from the manager Hajime Moriyasu, through that eventful first half in which the Samurai Blue took the lead, lost it, but then got themselves back on top before the break.

We move on to discuss the impacts made by the substitutes and whether that might lead to changes for the next game against Iraq, and praise two-goal hero Takumi Minamino (to 46:00).

We then wrap up the episode with bouquets for newly retired Samurai Blue legend Yasuhito Endo, and chat about some of the new J1 kits that have caught our eye as top flight teams ramp up their preseason preparations.

JTET - J2 Season Review 2023 (Part 2)

After a few days off for the New Year holidays, JTET is back with the second episode of our club-by-club J2 season review for 2023.

This time, Jon Steele and James Taylor kick off (sorry) by discussing Ventforet Kofu (Start to 07:10), Oita Trinita (07:10 to 14:10), and Fagiano Okayama (14:10 to 20:50).

After that, we welcomed a pair of guest correspondents to the show: firstly, Martin Spivey (@bantam84 on Twitter) gave us his thoughts on Blaublitz Akita's 2023 campaign (21:20 to 29:50), and then Garry Irwin (@GarryIrwin on Twitter) looks back on Roasso Kumamoto's season (29:50 to 35:30).

To round off this installment, Jon and James returned to share their opinions on Thespa Kusatsu Gunma (35:50 to 44:00) and Fujieda MYFC (44:00 to Finish).

Thank you for all your support for JTET, and Big Pod - look out for Part 3 of our J2 season review next week!

*These are the season review questions that we asked Martin and Garry to answer on the pod:

1) What grade would you give to your team’s 2023 season, and why? (A, B, C, D, E)

2) What was the high point of the season?

3) What was the low point of the season?

4) Who was the most important player for your team this season (you can pick the manager, if he was the most important)?

5) What was the biggest surprise of the season for you (from your team, or any other team in the division)?

Episode 495 - Asian Cup & Autumn/Spring with Dan Orlowitz

Happy new year one and all. On our first episode of 2024, Dan Orlowitz guests to chat about Japan's Asian Cup squad, and the J.League's decision to switch to an autumn to spring calendar from the 2026/27 season.

As mentioned on the podcast, here are some links if you'd like to donate to the earthquake relief efforts:

Association for Aid and Relief, Japan - https://aarjapan.gr.jp/en/blog/365/

The Nippon Foundation - https://kifu.www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/dras/?lang=en

Yahoo! Japan official donation page - https://donation.yahoo.co.jp/detail/1630064

JTET - J2 Season Review 2023 (Part 1)

After a short break to recharge the batteries, the JTET team are back for some club-by-club reviews of the 2023 J2 season!

In this episode, the focus is on the top seven teams from the final league table. Jon Steele and James Taylor begin by looking at the automatically-promoted sides: Machida Zelvia (Start to 06:50), and Jubilo Iwata (06:50 to 12:50). 

After that, special guest Lewis joins us to look back on a fantastic season for Play-Off winners Tokyo Verdy (13:00 to 26:00). You can find Lewis on Twitter @illusionofease.

Jon and James then reconvene to run the rule over Shimizu S-Pulse (26:00 to 32:30), Montedio Yamagata (32:30 to 39:10), and JEF Chiba (39:10 to 48:30).

To round off Part 1, another special guest, Daniel Kuroda, gave us his thoughts on V-Varen Nagasaki's 2023 campaign (49:00 to Finish). Daniel is on Twitter @NagaSapo_EN.

Thanks to Lewis and Daniel for their contributions, and to all our listeners for their support this season - Parts 2 and 3 of our season review will be coming soon!

*For reference, we asked Lewis and Daniel to record answers to these questions for their segments on the pod:

1) What grade would you give to your team’s 2023 season, and why? (A, B, C, D, E)

2) What was the high point of the season?

3) What was the low point of the season?

4) Who was the most important player for your team this season (you can pick the manager, if he was the most important)?

5) What was the biggest surprise of the season for you (from your team, or any other team in the division)?

JTET - J2 Awards (2023 Edition)

The J.League season might have ended, but the JTET machine cannot be stopped (believe us - we've tried).

This week, Jon and James got started with some ACL chat (Start to 12:30), covering Kofu's superb result last midweek over in Thailand (and their frankly astonishing passage to the knockout stage as group winners).

After that, the gents shared their choices for J2 Team of the Season (12:30 to 48:20), with some interesting similarities and differences to discuss. The boys also picked a manager, rookie, best player, and goal of the season into the bargain!

To round things off, Jon quizzed James on some of the more eye-catching J2 transfers that have already taken place since the final day of the season (48:20 to Finish).

Hope everybody enjoys the show - we'll be posting some more detailed season review content over late December/early January, so please stay tuned for that!

Episode 494 - Emperor’s Cup Glory for Frontale

Kawasaki won the Emperor's Cup for the second time in their history on Saturday after prevailing in a penalty shootout against Kashiwa at the National Stadium, and in Part 1 of our final episode of the year Neil Debnam guests to commiserate with Reysol, but then celebrate another trophy under Toru Oniki, before our attention turns to what is sure to be a fascinating winter transfer window for Frontale (to 29:07).

Then in Part 2 we discuss the Japan squad for the New Years Day friendly against Thailand, some early offseason managerial and transfer moves and the permutations for the final round of ACL group stage games this midweek, before wrapping up another bumper year in the J.League and on the pod.

J-Talk: Extra Time – J2 Playoff Final & J3 Round 38

The curtain came down on the J2 season last Saturday, as Tokyo Verdy met Shimizu S-Pulse in the playoff final. Jon Steele was at the National Stadium to see it, and in part 1 of this week’s JTET he tells James Taylor all about it (start to 21:45). After that, James and Jon take a look at Ventforet Kofu’s exploits in the Asian Champions League, with their group finely poised heading into the final matchday next week (21:45 to 29:40). There’s also time for a quick chat about managerial news (29:40 to 37:15). Then, in J-Talk: Short Corner, Mike Innes rounds up the final day of a thoroughly entertaining J3 season (37:15 to end).

 

Thank you for listening throughout the season, and special thanks to Patreon subscribers for their support of JTET and J-Talk.

Episode 493 - J1 Final Day & Team of the Season

It was our great pleasure to welcome Sam Robson back to the pod for our blockbuster season wrap-up episode.

After a brief catch up with the great man we ran through all nine games from the final day of the season (to 1:04:08), before running through the Patreon poll results and piecing together the J-Talk J1 Team of the Season, before looking ahead to Saturday's Emperor's Cup Final between Kawasaki and Kashiwa.

J-Talk: Extra Time J2 Playoff Semi Finals & J3 Round 37

In part 1 of this week’s JTET, James Taylor and Jon Steele discuss the J2 playoff semi-finals (start to 14:00) and look ahead to the final (14:00 to 23:40).

 

In part 2, the fight for 2^nd in J3 is going to the final day – Mike Innes has all the details about the penultimate round of the season and a preview of the final day (23:40 to end).

 

Enjoy the final weekend of the season!

Episode 492 - Kobe Are J1 Champions

Vissel Kobe won the first J1 Championship in their history on Saturday afternoon, and Alan Gibson guests to talk us through a tense 90 minutes at the Noevir Stadium, and what this title means for the club, plus towards the end of Part 1 Alan shares his thoughts on how both Osaka clubs, Cerezo and Gamba, are shaping up under their current managers (to 43:45).

Then in Part 2 we run through the other eight games from J1 Matchday 33, highlighted by a difficult weekend for both Yokohama clubs, with F.Marinos seeing their title hopes dashed, and Yokohama FC all but mathematically confirmed relegated.