Hundreds of books have been written about the J. League since its launch in 1993, and now one has been written in English.
Jonathan Birchall's "Ultra Nippon: How Japan Reinvented Football" is a quirky grand tour of the 1999 season that exactly captures the surreal world of the Japanese game. He enjoyed himself. So will the reader.
The book's main thread follows the fortunes of Steve Perryman's Shimizu S-Pulse through to the second-stage title and defeat by Jubilo Iwata in the championship final.