Career
He is best known for playing the majority of his career at Kashima Antlers as well as spells with Italian side Sampdoria and Messina. Yanagisawa earned 58 caps for the Japan national team, and represented them at two World Cups, the 2000 Olympics and the 2000 Asian Cup. Yanagisawa was widely berated in Japan for wasting Japan"s best opportunity in a match with Croatia in the World Cup first round in 2006, with his post-game explanation: "The ball came at me so quickly" (in Japanese "kyu ni bohru ga kita no de") earning its own transcript: "QBK," used as a byword for a lame excuse.
Individual J. J. Team J.
