Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou, Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, Yosuke Ideguchi and Reo Hatate are all set for a reunion and homecoming tour next year in Japan.
The Premiership champions have a huge reach in the land of the rising sun after signing four players from the J-League last season, alongside bringing in Postecoglou from Yokohama F. Marinos. Kyogo's former club Vissel Kobe have released merchandise in tribute to their former player in collaboration with Celtic while their Japanese Twitter account has around 62,000 followers.
Japanese outlet Sponichi report that the Hoops are preparing to head to the Far East next summer and marketing staff from Parkhead have made trips to put the initial plans in place for next summer, it claims. Two friendly matches will be played as part of this tour, one against Postecoglou's former club Yokohama and another against Kyogo's, Vissel Kobe. Getting there for fans could be an issue.
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Japanese-based journalist Dan Orlowitz says those who would travel for this will have to wait on the country re-opening their borders to tourists. Travel to the nation is restricted in a bid to keep Covid infections to a minimum.
The Asian Cup is also likely to be hosted by either Japan or South Korea and that could affect flight prices. Decisions should be made in plenty of time though.
He said: "Of concern to those anticipating the Japanese Bhoys’ participation will be the Asian Cup (likely hosted in SK or maybe Japan). Would-be traveling support should keep in mind that as of this tweet, Japan’s borders are still closed to almost all tourists.
“Obviously hopes/expectations are that the latter issue is resolved by Summer 2023, because if it isn’t, then, uh, yikes. Also don’t look up flight prices right now if you are pregnant or have a heart condition, just saying.”
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