By Lee Kyoung Mi and Lee Jihae
Suwon | June 25, 2020

A player wearing a zip-up hoodie and riding an electric kick board on June 25 entered the clubhouse of Suwon Sports Complex in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do Province. Masatoshi Ishida, a Japanese striker for Suwon FC, has his name registered with the second-tier K League 2 as "Masa."

As he walked in with Korea.net staff, his teammates greeted him by saying, "Masa, what's going on?" or "Wow, you're having an interview? Cool."

As of July 9, Suwon FC led the league after nine games with six wins and three losses. Playing mostly attacking midfielder but also shadow striker, Ishida after eight games is second on the team with four goals in contributing to his team's surge. Fast and adept at dribbling, he scored two goals on May 27 in a home game against Gyeongnam FC and earned player of the week honors in the league's fourth week.

In high school, Ishida made Japan's under-18 national men's team but his country's top-flight J League rejected him. He played on the second-tier J2 League team Kyoto Sanga and J3 League squads SC Sagamihara and Azul Claro Numazu, scoring just four goals in about 70 games from 2014-18.

Ishida showed little promise in the pros and was about to quit when Ansan Greeners FC of K League 2 reached out to him. In his debut season in Korea last year, he scored nine goals in 24 games and showed potential that did not appear in Japan. His performance last year led to his eventual signing with Suwon FC, which seeks promotion to the first-tier K League 1.

"I just thought of it as practice and wasn't too worried," the midfielder said in recalling his debut with Ansan, adding that he knew almost nothing about the K League at the time. "I think I was able to show my ability because of little pressure and my mind being at ease."

On his life goals, he said, "I haven't set specific goals. I'm just trying to do my best now."

Now in his second season in Korea, Ishida hailed the sports training infrastructure as one of the K League's advantages. He said the well-developed training environment here makes him recommend the Korean league to other foreign players.

Another outstanding aspect of Korean players is physique, he said. "(Korean players) are well-built and strong. They're taller than Japanese players on average and thus better when heading the ball," he added.

He said, however, "The K League's speed of attack is very slightly slower than the J League's."

Through having lived in Korea for a little under a year and a half, Ishida can understand Korean. He communicates with teammates in Korean and speaks the language during games.

"I'm studying Korean hard through YouTube. I can't speak it that well yet but I don't have much trouble listening to and understanding the language," he said.

When in a bind Korean-wise, he said he consults teammate An Byong-jun, a third-generation Korean Japanese. Because Suwon FC is a second-tier team with a low budget, it has no interpretation staff. Thus Ishida gave this interview in his mother tongue.

Life in Korea has not been too inconvenient due to the many similarities between Korea and Japan, he said, while adding that he misses his family since the pandemic has prevented him from visiting his motherland for an extended period.

Ishida said everyone he has encountered in Korea has been friendly, though he feels lonely since he has no Korean friend to whom he can freely open up.

On what single word describes his life in Korea, Ishida hesitated for a while before saying "perseverance." Trying to stay healthy by avoiding instant food and soft drinks, helping the team achieve its goal of promotion to the top league, and battling loneliness and solitude in a foreign country are all part of perseverance to him.

Ishida also said overcoming oneself with a positive mindset is the driving force behind his good performance in Korea. 

km137426@korea.kr