Japanese Bhoy

Shunsuke Nakamura lit up Paradise with his football ability, and the Celtic View found out about the man behind the magic

WE delve back into the Celtic View archives this week for another great interview with a former Celt. This time, we’re featuring Shunsuke Nakamura, who answered fans’ questions in the club magazine back in September 2005.

The Japanese playmaker arrived at Paradise the previous month from Italian side, Reggina, and over the next four years would establish himself as a firm fans’ favourite with his exquisite array of skills and his lethal ability at free-kicks.

Who will ever forget his set-piece stunner against Manchester United in the group stages of the Champions League back in November 2006, which saw Celtic qualify for the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.

He made a total of 166 appearances for the Hoops, scoring 33 goals before he left for Espanyol in 2009.

In this interview from the Celtic View of September 14, 2005, supporters were invited to send in their questions for the Japanese genius. And he, along with his translator, Makoto Kaneko, sat down to answer them.

So, who was Naka’s boyhood hero? What is the correct pronunciation of his name? And has he sampled the ultimate Glaswegian culinary delight, a deep-fried Mars Bar? Read on to find out…

Have you found any restaurants in Glasgow where you can get Japanese food? Yu Masan

Actually, there are lots, so I’m very happy! I expected that there might be one or two Japanese restaurants, but I didn’t expect that Glasgow would have so many of the sushi restaurants with conveyer belts bringing the food around. That has been a nice surprise.

How difficult is to communicate with your team-mates when you don’t speak English, and are you taking lessons? Russell Padmore, London