“The beauty of football: I get to travel, meet many people, experience many cultures, eat different foods and see different things. Football is beautiful from that perspective.”

Kenichi Yatsuhashi is a Japanese football coach whose incredible journey in football has taken him from his hometown in the Aichi Prefecture in central Japan all across the globe. After moving as a teenager to Brazil to pursue a shortly-lived playing career, Yatsuhashi would eventually move to New York City to study and ultimately start his coaching career. That career would turn into an adventure across the world, with stints in exotic footballing destinations like Kyrgyzstan, Ghana, Nigeria, Cambodia and the Philippines. We had the pleasure of chatting with Coach Keni Yatsuhashi, who is currently based in Kyoto, about his career so far and his aspirations for the future.

So how does a 17-year old from Japan end up moving to Brazil to pursue a football career?

Back when I was playing football in Japan, there was no professional league. My father asked me if I wanted to go abroad to play and gave me the options of Germany or Brazil. For no particular reason, I chose Brazil. Fortunately, the exchange rate between the Japanese and Brazilian currencies allowed me to stay for a long time in Brazil. It cost me about $50 a month to buy my food and live in Brazil and I stayed for two and a half years.

Did you experience culture shock when you first moved to Brazil? Was it difficult to communicate with players coaches and just people in general in everyday life?

Of course, I experienced culture shock but I was young enough to adapt quickly. It was an eye-opening experience which was good for my personal development. Communicating with the coaches and players was difficult at the beginning, but they did their best to communicate with me, and I did my best to listen and try to talk to them. I was able to say a few simple words on the pitch but off the pitch, it was very difficult for me. Actually, I regret not putting more effort to learn the language, but I had a good experience.

You spent over 20 years living then coaching in the US. How did you end up on the other side of the world coaching in Central Asia?

I left the USA in 2011 and I made some phone calls and sent emails to all the networks I had at the time. There were a few places where I got responses: India and Japan. I went to the interview in India but I did not get the job. In Japan, I had several opportunities to be interviewed and one of them was with the Japan Football Association. They gave me an opportunity to work in Central Asia as one of their Dispatch coaches. I ended up going to Kyrgyzstan and I worked there as the Technical Director for the FA and coach of the Under-16 national team. It was a good two years, I did my best in a country where it was extremely difficult to develop good football, but it was a very good experience for me.