How Arsene Wenger's Stay in Japan Changed Arsenal

We all know how traveling and interacting with different cultures can change our knowledge of the world as we know it. It’s a question of whether we use that knowledge to our advantage or not. It could be said that this is exactly what has happened to Arsenal’s greatest manager: Arsene Wenger.

Just before he came to Arsenal in 1996, Arsene had stayed in Japan for 18 months. While there, he took over a team in the Japanese League—Nagoya Grampus Eight—and rewrote their history.

But that is not what changed the man. What changed him was the Japanese culture, which, through his own improvement, later helped him completely transform Arsenal FC.

But how did Wenger manage to transform the club? What methods did he use?

Arsene Wenger has always been a talented manager. His intelligence and patient approach to matters and problems was always effective, ever since his time in France.

His career as a manager took off when he became a manager of Monaco. He stayed there for seven years, an unprecedented amount of time for managers to stay in one club when it comes to the French League.  

We could say that his star began to shine there. He showed his talent to uncover unpolished gems and at the time he brought to the world players like Youri Djorkaeff, George Weah, Thierry Henry, and Victor Ikpeba.

During those times, before he visited Japan, Wenger was a promising manager. But that is not the only factor that contributed to the great success of Arsene Wenger and his way of changing Arsenal. There is a lot more to the man than that.

Throughout his career as a manager, he has managed two French teams, one Japanese team, and one English team. He has interacted with many different people and cultures. This is when his ability to remain open-minded has really revealed itself.

We will not be wrong to suggest that Arsene Wenger has been influenced by his visits to other countries, particularly Japan. Japan is known for their thousands of years of unique culture, which drastically differs from the Western ones.

For the Japanese people, honor, sincerity, hard work, tolerance, and manners are just part of the few of the main moral values in their society. On the surface, the Japanese public life seems to be serene. And it is exactly that image of serenity that Arsene has been holding on tightly since his involvement in English football.

Many people close to “the Professor” have described him to posses a fiery personality. More than once, Wenger has admitted that he has always striven to keep that part of himself buried and suppressed.

The 18-month spell he spent in Japan has definitely helped him put the control in his hands. Even though we have seen him in many situations to unleash his fiery temper, he has managed to exercise great self-control most of the times.

Undoubtedly, Wenger was impressed by the way of life the Japanese people led. Once he said that Japan, even though people work very hard, they live a long life. He has put down to the fact that they keep a special diet and live healthy lives.

We have seen the effects of that “Japanese way” when Arsene first joined Arsenal. After joining, he immediately started the battle-hardened and skeptical of his methods at the time, players of Arsenal on a special diet. He also ordered a special, state-of-the-art gym to be built, with water flowing inside to calm the players down.

He also insisted that the player should keep quite at half-time talks, thus being able to concentrate more in a relaxing environment before the start of the second half.

His new and revolutionary methods in English football, at the start of his career at Arsenal, have been seen as strange by many, but they have worked out terrifically for the North London team.

In a way, he has acted like the Japanese businessmen act in business, keeping his diehard traditions in the face of constantly changing world.

The unique blend of personality and influence throughout Wenger’s life has turned him into one of the best football managers in the world today. He has used his knowledge and experience to the full to transform a club forever, for which the Arsenal fans will be forever grateful to him.