The chairman of the J. League, Saburo Kawabuchi, believes last season's dramatic penalty shootout between Jubilo Iwata and Shimizu S-Pulse has increased the "worldwide appeal" of Japanese soccer.
Kawabuchi also pointed to the nail-biting relegation scrap at the foot of the first division and the J2 promotion battle in 1999 as reasons to be cheerful heading into the J. League's eighth season, which kicks off Saturday.
"We could never have imagined the level of intensity. As a result, we saw scenes that will go down in history and we can say that the two-division system was a success," Kawabuchi said.