Occupation:
International Affairs Director for NFL Japan Link
Time in Japan:
Nine and a half years

Where are you from?
The States. I was born in Texas and grew up in Indiana.

What brought you to Japan?
The first time was in 1984, while I was still at university, as an intern for an international club. It was a club for Japanese people wanting to meet foreigners and practice their English. There weren' enough foreign members so they imported some during the summer. A few years later, I came back on the JET program and spent five years in Kansai. I lived for two years in an area west of Himeji called Harima Shingu where there are only 300 people.

What do you do at NFL Japan Link?
I am the International Affairs Director, which means I do almost everything that has to do with connecting our local office with offices overseas. I'm the one who communicates with the head office, I write all the reports, translate all the budgets and make all the phone calls in the middle of night to the New York office. Also, I do special projects such as rock videos for NFL Blast - a program where they take a rock video and spice it together with football. Last year we worked with The Yellow Monkey.

What other events does NFL Japan do here?
What many people don't know is that there's more football in Japan than in any other country outside of North America. There are 600 club teams. Our job is to build the popularity of the NFL, to get the NFL on television and to connect the Japanese football community with the world football community. Every year we send four or five Japanese players to compete in NFL Europe and last year one of them, Mr. Kawaguchi, was elected captain of the defensive team for the Amsterdam Admirals. It's only a matter of time before there's a football "Nomo" playing in the NFL.

How often does the NFL play an official game here in Tokyo?
It used to be every year but now it's every other year and it's called the American Bowl. The next one is next August. It'll be the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Atlanta Falcons. It's very difficult to organize as we'll have 45 to 50 players from each team, plus all the sports staff, trainers, coaches and NFL organizers, so it's pretty intense.

How do you promote the NFL in Japan?
We have to promote football itself to promote the NFL, so we have an extensive grass roots program. We are going into schools and providing PE teachers with flag football kits. Flag football is the non-contact version of football where children can play without getting injured. It needs very little equipment, so we are negotiating with the Ministry of Education to have it officially put in the PE curriculum. So far those negotiations are going very well. We're trying to raise the level of Japanese coaching so we bring over people to teach both players and coaches. We also have a television broadcast called Club Team on Nippon TV every Friday morning at 1:45am.

What do you like about Japan?
It's hard because my favorite things in Tokyo are not the same as my favorite things in Kansai. In Kansai it was the real feeling of old culture which we don't feel in Tokyo. But Tokyo is great; it's dynamic, it's fun.

What's been your most interesting experience in Japan?
I did the Shikoku pilgrimage and loved it. I had to visit 88 temples and some others along the way. That was definitely one of the best things I did in Japan.

What's your recipe for a happy life in Japan?
Get a job that pays a lot. Well, I don't believe there's one good recipe because there's a lot of ways to be happy here. There's also a lot of ways to be miserable here, but it really depends on the person.

Contact Jake at jtarbox@b-brain.co.jp

Jake Tarbox spoke to Maki Nibayashi.

Do you know an interesting person in Tokyo? If so, email us at maki@tokyoclassified.com