is a Japanese former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er and manager. He was most recently the manager of

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

club

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo ...

. A defender, Ihara was captain of the Japan national team for more than a decade in the 1990s, together with striker

Kazuyoshi Miura , nicknamed King Kazu, is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Japan Football League club Atletico Suzuka, on loan from J1 League club Yokohama FC. He is the world's second oldest active player to play and oldest to s ...

and Brazilian-born midfielder

Ruy Ramos is a Brazilian-born Japanese former football manager and player. He is currently active as a television personality and '' tarento'', represented by Irving. Club career Ramos was one of the first foreign players in Japanese professional f ...

. Ihara's long standing record of 122 national team appearances was surpassed by

Yasuhito Endo was the second son of Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito) and Empress Teimei (Sadako), a younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. As a member of the Imperial House of Japan, he was the patron of several ...

on October 16, 2012.

Club career

Ihara was rarely out of the spotlight in the emerging

throughout the 1990s. He spent most of his career with Yokohama F. Marinos and formed a key defensive partnership with the flamboyant Tsuyoshi Kitazawa at club level. After graduating from

University of Tsukuba is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main Tsukuba ca ...

, he joined

Nissan Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and '' Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house performance tuning ...

(later ''Yokohama Marinos'') and rapidly rose through the Marinos youth ranks to become a key player. The long-serving Ihara was so important to his club that he was nicknamed ''Mister Marinos'' by many Japanese fans. He formed the backbone of the club and also helped to bring on talented youngsters like Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and

Shunsuke Nakamura is a Japanese former professional footballer. He is currently a first-team coach of Yokohama FC. He is the only person to have been named J.League Most Valuable Player more than once, receiving the award in 2000 and 2013. Renowned as one of ...

. After leaving Marinos, Ihara also spent a season with

Júbilo Iwata is a Japanese professional association football, football team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Iwata, located in Shizuoka Prefecture. The club competes in J2 League following relegation from J1 League in 2024 J1 League, 2024. Etymology The team's ...

(2000) and his last two seasons with

Urawa Reds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan, who p ...

(2001–2002). He retired in 2002. He played 341 games and scored 7 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven for six years in a row ( 1991–92 to

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

). He also was selected as part of the 30th Anniversary J.League Best Eleven.

International career

On January 27, 1988, when Ihara was a

student, he debuted for Japan national team against

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. After his debut, he became a regular player playing the

1990 FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification, qualification competition for the 1990 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederat ...

and at the

1990 Asian Games ) , nations = 31 , athletes = 6,122 , events = 308 in 27 sports , opening = 22 September 1990 , closing = 7 October 1990 , opened_by = Yang Shangkun , closed_by = Roy de Silva , athlete_oath = Chen L ...

. In 1992, Japan won the

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

for the first time. However, at

1994 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 1994 FIFA World Cup featured 24 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, United States, and one place for the defending cham ...

, Japan failed to won for qualify to

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

. After that, Ihara became a captain for Japan and played at

1995 King Fahd Cup The 1995 King Fahd Cup () was the second and last tournament held under the King Fahd Cup name before the competition was retroactively sanctioned by FIFA and recognized as FIFA Confederations Cup. Disputed as the King Fahd Cup, in honor of the th ...

and

1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates between 4 and 21 Decembe ...

. In 1997, at

1998 World Cup qualification 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, Japan achieved qualification for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

for the first time. During the 1998 World Cup in France, the veteran sweeper's experience was crucial to Japan's survival in their first World Cup appearance, forming a flat back three defence with strong centre-back Yutaka Akita as well as speedy fullbacks Eisuke Nakanishi (or strong centre-back

Norio Omura is a Japanese former football player and manager. He played for the Japan national team from 1995 to 1998. Club career Omura was born in Matsue, Japan on September 6, 1969. After graduating from Juntendo University, he joined Yokohama Marino ...

). Young Marinos

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was Japan's first choice goalkeeper at the time. After 1998 World Cup, he played at

1999 Copa América The 1999 Copa América was a football tournament held in Paraguay, from 29 June to 18 July. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. In order to bring the number of competing teams to twelve, CONMEBOL invited CONCAC ...

. This competition was his last game for Japan. He played 122 games and scored 5 goals for Japan until 1999.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref>

Coaching career

In 2006, Ihara became the assistant coach for the Japan U-23 national team and spent two years. He then became the assistant coach for club

in 2009, being the caretaker on two occasions. After a horrible three years of being at the bottom half of the table in the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

Avispa Fukuoka is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. History Earlier years in Fujieda The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizu ...

then hired Ihara as their coach, replacing the former

Marijan Pušnik Marijan Pušnik (born 1 November 1960) is a Slovenian football manager. Managerial career Pušnik started his managerial career with Dravograd in 1994 but landed his first serious job as Celje manager in 2000. During his four years at Celje, ...

. Under Ihara, then club went on to win 24 games out of 42 and collected a total of 82 points, ending their regular season in third place. Avispa then went on to the playoffs, where they beat

V-Varen Nagasaki is a Japanese association football, football club based in Nagasaki, Capital of Nagasaki Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier professional in football league. History The club was established in 1985 as Ari ...

1–0, and then drew 1–1 against

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osak ...

. Avispa eventually ended up getting promoted to the

as they were the higher-seeded team. Ihara's first match in charge of Avispa in the 2016 J1 League was a 2–1 away loss against

Sagan Tosu is a Japanese professional Association football, football club based in Tosu, Saga, Tosu, Saga Prefecture. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese football, since 2025 following relegation from the J1 League in 2024 J1 Leag ...

. The first win in the league was on their eighth match in a 1–0 away win in Tokyo against

FC Tokyo , commonly known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. From 2025, FC Tokyo is one of the few J.League clubs to be simply called ''Footb ...

. He resigned at the end of the 2018 season.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ihara goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Nissan Motors / Yokohama F - Marinos *

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

: 1991–92, 1992–93 Júbilo Iwata *

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Japan *

Individual * Asian Footballer of the Year: 1995 *

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only on two occasions there has been a full-Japanese Best X ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998 * J.League 20th Anniversary Team * J.League 30th Anniversary Team

Notes

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihara, Masami 1967 births Living people University of Tsukuba alumni Association football people from Shiga Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Yokohama F. Marinos players Júbilo Iwata players Urawa Red Diamonds players 1988 AFC Asian Cup players 1992 AFC Asian Cup players 1996 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players AFC Asian Cup–winning players FIFA Men's Century Club Asian Footballer of the Year winners Japanese football managers J1 League managers J2 League managers Kashiwa Reysol managers Avispa Fukuoka managers Men's association football defenders Asian Games footballers for Japan Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games Academic staff of Biwako Seikei Sport College 20th-century Japanese sportsmen