World Cup 2022: Anyone but Scotland… who to follow in Qatar

Japan’s cultural links to Scotland go back generations. No, really…

Scottish expertise in ship-building and manufacturing were both used by the Japanese as they rapidly modernised in the 20th century.

Twenty six lighthouses were built around the Japanese coastline in the 1870s under the guidance of Kincardineshire’s Richard Brunton.

Then there was Aberdonian Thomas Blake Glover, who arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, and brought the first steam train to Japan, oversaw the country’s first coal mine, its first dry dock, while the Mitsubishi company of today can trace its origins back to him. A busy man.

The links go on. The now world-famous Nikka whisky distillery was co-founded by Masataka Taketsuru, who studied in Glasgow, and his Scottish wife Jessie Cowan. Sean Connery’s supposed final bow as James Bond in You Only Live Twice brought Tokyo and Japan into the cultural mainstream.

Back on the football pitch, Shunsuke Nakamura signing for Celtic in 2006, and his subsequent success, catapulted Scottish football into the Japanese consciousness. Within three years of his arrival at Parkhead, Celtic had become the third biggest Scottish brand in Japan, behind only whisky and Connery.

The current crop of Japanese stars at Celtic have continued that legacy, with Daizen Maeda selected in manager Hajime Moriyasu’s World Cup squad.

Throw in a gorgeous set of kits and a couple of glamour ties against Germany and Spain, what more could you want?