Japanese Rush in S. E. Asia
　Four selected Japanese teams were in South East Asian countries during February, March and April, 1974.
　Following the friendly visits of the national team to Singapore, Malaysia and Hongkong last February, another national selection, which was composed of young players mainly under 23 years of age, competed in the 3rd Marah Halim Cup invitational tournament in Medan, Indonesia in late March. The Japanese High School team composed of youths under 18 have made the annual foreign tour to Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok in late March and early April. The Japanese Youth team (under 20) will take part in the Asian Youth championship in Bangkok from April 14 till 30. Apart from those visits, two League clubs, Eidai Sangyo of Yamaguchi (1st Div.) and Yomiuri F.C. of Tokyo (2nd Div.) made tours in March.

　Korean streak from Pyongyang
　The visiting football club of "Pyongyang April 25" from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea defeated the Japanese national selection at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on March 10, 1974. The score was 4-0. The result was a great shock to Japanese football. We had to admit the appearance of a new rival in Asia, whose style of football is quite different from other Asian football.
　They ran the fastest in every position ; they were the most accurate in middle-distance passing of the ball ; they were the strongest in shooting at the goal when compared with the footballers of other Asian countries.
　In fact, they have created a new style of Asian football. "We, Koreans, are not so tall and so strong as Europeans but we can react more quickly and we have more stability in the lower part of our bodies" said Mr. Pak Do Ik, the trainer of the visiting team. "So we have been trying to create an original style of football based on our national physical characteristics". These words were a severe criticism of Japanese football which has been imitating European football in recent years.
　The "Pyongyang April 25" is not simply one of the many football clubs in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. It was founded in June, 1972 just after their national team had suffered a vital loss against Iran in the preliminary tournament for the Munich Olympic Games. The club was mainly composed of the national players of that time. The club was immediately admitted to the first division of their domestic league and won the championship in 1973.
　The "April 25" club has been given many opportunities to have international experiences. It participated in the DCM international tournament with teams from West Germany and Iran in Dacca, India, in September 1972, and won the trophy. It also made a friendly visit to Singapore, Malaysia and Pakistan from February to April,1973, and won all of its nine games.
　Apparently the establishment and the promotion of the "Pyongyang April 25" club seems to be part of the effort to reconstruct a new strong team to represent the country on an international level.
　The visiting "April 25" team won all of their four games in Japan. The first two matches in Osaka and Kobe against the young Japanese selections of under 23 and under 20 were one-sided. The scores were 4-1 and 6-0 respectively. They also won the last match against the Japanese League selection in Tokyo by a score of 1-0.

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