Andres Iniesta helps kick off Tokyo ‘Captain Tsubasa’ exhibit

Former FC Barcelona soccer star Andres Iniesta joined the author of “Captain Tsubasa” on March 4 to open an exhibition for the globally popular manga at a Tokyo train station.

Yotsugi Station on the Keisei Oshiage Line has been transformed into a multi-media exhibit of the soccer comic.

Illustrations of popular figures from the manga, including the main character, Tsubasa Ozora, appear at the entrance, on stairs and elsewhere.

As trains approach, the melody of the manga’s theme song, “Moete Hero” (Burning hero), and the voices of Tsubasa and Sanae Nakazawa, who continued cheering for Tsubasa in the series and later became his wife, play over the station's P.A. system.

Its author, Yoichi Takahashi, grew up near the station operated by Keisei Electric Railway Co., in the capital’s Katsushika Ward.

Takahashi cooperated with organizers to help bring the special exhibition to life.

“When I started writing the manga, I couldn't ever imagine that an actual star player of FC Barcelona, the team Tsubasa transferred to in the manga, would come to Yotsugi Station,” Takahashi said at the opening event.

Iniesta, who now plays for Vissel Kobe in the J.League, has been a huge fan of the manga series since watching the animated version on TV at home in Spain as a child.

When asked which scenes he recalls from it, Iniesta smiled and said, “Tsubasa’s drive shoots, goalkeeper Genzo Wakabayashi’s saves and the Tachibana brothers playing in combination ... there are various scenes.”

Toshiya Kobayashi, president of Keisei Electric Railway Co., said he hopes it will contribute to boosting the community and the soccer world.