What better time to give these pages a global flavour than the international break, and having looked far and wide for inspiration, we settled on Japan.

The legendary Kazuyoshi Miura made history by becoming the first Japan international to play in Serie A when he joined Genoa in the 1994-95 season.

Since then, many more have strutted their stuff in the cauldron that is Italy’s highest division, and here are three who left an indelible imprint on the fabric of the Italian game.

Hidetoshi Nakata (1998-2005, 182 Serie A appearances)

When anyone mentions Hidetoshi Nakata, the word ‘supersub’ springs to mind.

Nakata is perhaps best known in Italy for his vital contributions off the bench for Roma in the 2000-01 campaign that helped keep them on course for the Scudetto.

He led the way for Japanese footballers not just in Italy, but in Europe.

Japan’s presence on the continent had been minimal. The J-League only came into existence in 1992 and Japan had never made it to a World Cup.

Miura may have been the innovator, yet he struggled to get to grips with playing against the world’s best and lasted only a season. Nakata would do much better.

Signed by Perugia by forward-thinking, but controversial owner Luciano Gaucci after France 98, Nakata’s first year in Serie A would prove to be his best.

Five thousand Japanese fans flew to Italy to watch his debut against Juventus and The Old Lady would play a major role in his Italian adventure.

He hit double digits, extraordinary for a midfielder in his first campaign in the world’s hardest league, but in truth, it never got that good again in terms of numbers.

His form won him a move to Roma at the turn of the millennium for €21million, a colossal amount at the time.

The ‘Juve game’ in May 2001 became his defining moment. With Roma 2-0 down in Turin, Nakata came off the bench to score a long-range screamer and assist another to salvage a draw, in turn keeping the Giallorossi in front of Juve in the title race by six points.

“The Scudetto? Every time I go back to Rome, all the fans still come up to me and say, ‘Thank you Nakata’, he told The Athletic earlier this year.

Moves to Parma, Bologna and Fiorentina could never recapture the magic of his early days in the peninsula. But he did pick up a Coppa Italia, again scoring against Juve in the two-legged affair to help the Gialloblu win what was to be their last piece of silverware.

Shunsuke Nakamura (2002-2005, 80 Serie A appearances)

A playmaker blessed with vision and a supremely accurate left foot, Nakamura joined Reggina in the summer of 2002, just months after the Amaranto had won promotion back to Serie A.

According to Martin Greig’s revealing book The Zen of Naka, such was Reggina chairman Pasquale Foti’s desire to sign the Japan international that he called Yokohama Marinos while his players were still on the pitch celebrating their return to the top tier.

The Calabrians’ interest was a sliding-doors moment for Nakamura and not simply because Serie A just about still reigned supreme in Europe at the time, but mostly because he had grown used to being shunned for a perceived lack of athleticism.

As a youth player for Nissan Motors FC, he was considered too small for professional football and took his talents elsewhere, specifically to Toko Gakuen in Kawasaki, where he impressed enough to convince his former club, which had since rebranded to Yokohama Marinos, to sign him.

But even after he established himself as one of the J-League’s brightest stars, that was not enough to convince then-national manager Philippe Troussier to select him for the 2002 World Cup on home soil.

An arch-pragmatist, Troussier deemed Nakamura a luxury his workmanlike side could not afford. But Foti had other ideas and brought him to Italy.

Having taken the No 10 shirt off the shoulders of Francesco Cozza, Nakamura hit the ground running, scoring three goals in his first four Serie A appearances, including a trademark free-kick to rescue a late point against Brescia. A dead-ball specialist, Nakamura hit an even better effort in a defeat by Roma late in the season, and remarkably, only one of his 11 goals in three seasons for Reggina came from open play.

Off the pitch, meanwhile, the Amaranto sold 25,000 shirts bearing his name in his first five months in Reggio Calabria and survived at the end of the season after beating Atalanta in a relegation play-off.

Nakamura finished his debut season with seven goals and five assists in 31 appearances before injuries limited him to just 18 outings the following campaign. Fully fit by the time 2004-05 kicked off, he now had to contend with Walter Mazzarri, Reggina’s fifth manager in two years, whose tactics left no room for a playmaker.

Nakamura scored just twice in his final season in Italy, in 1-0 wins against Palermo and Chievo Verona, results which ultimately proved crucial for Reggina’s survival as they avoided relegation by just two points.

Fed up with a lack of opportunities, he joined Celtic in the summer of 2005 and won three consecutive Scottish Premier League titles in his four seasons.

Takayuki Morimoto (2006-2012, 104 Serie A appearances)

Touted as a future star from the beginning, Morimoto debuted in 2004 at age 15 years, 10 months and six days, a J-League record that stood until March 2025.

Goals were always part of his DNA. Two days before his 16th birthday, he scored his first in senior competition against JEF United, a J-League record for youngest scorer which still stands.

The transition to Serie A was just as seamless for Morimoto, who bundled in a goal on debut against Atalanta in 2007, five minutes after coming off the bench. Tragedy struck weeks later when the teenage prodigy ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that put the brakes on what looked like being an unstoppable career.

Morimoto recovered in time to start in Catania’s first match of the 2007-08 campaign alongside Gionatha Spinesi and Giuseppe Mascara, and would net the opening goal of the season away in Parma, a strike which earned more playing time under managers Silvio Baldini and Walter Zenga.

But the breakthrough season was 2008-09 when he scored nine goals in all competitions, with performances that were praised by the media and opposition players alike: Alexandre Pato claimed Morimoto was the best younger player in Serie A and Catania chairman Pietro Lo Monaco divulged that Sir Alex Ferguson was tracking the youngster for a potential move to Manchester United.  

No big switch materialised, however, and Morimoto would stay in Sicily as his goal tallies slowly deflated over the next two seasons – eight in all competitions between 2009 and 2011 – before his loan move to Novara (four goals) in 2011-12.

At age 25, having navigated his way through additional knee surgeries and muscular issues, Catania deemed that Morimoto’s best years were behind him. Despite Pato likening him to Brazilian legend Ronaldo when it came to footwork and speed, Morimoto simply could not stay fit enough for long enough to keep his Italian dream going, and he would follow Zenga to Al Nasser Dubai.

Morimoto’s story is two-fold: exaltation and disintegration. Yet, he is fondly remembered in Catania’s history books along with other formidable attackers, including Maxi Lopez and Gonzalo Bergessio.

One of the unsung heroes of Catania’s golden Serie A run between 2006 and 2014, Morimoto is the second-highest Japanese scorer in Italian top-tier history.

Of the 14 Japanese players to star in Serie A, no one has scored more goals than Nakata – 24 in 182 matches – but Morimoto had an impressive 19 in 104 games. Nakamura (11 in 80), Yuto Nagatomo (nine in 170) and Keisuke Honda (nine in 81) all weighed in with their share.

Join us below for our Tokyo special, where we highlight the best Japanese footballers in Serie A history.