YouTube taught a Japanese teen how to kick field goals. Now he’s in the NFL. - BERITAJA

Unorthodox backgrounds are the norm successful the IPP program, which expanded 2 years agone to see specialists, including kickers. Yet Matsuzawa mightiness person the unlikeliest way to the NFL of all.

Football isn’t a overseas conception successful Japan. A semiprofessional league, the X League, was founded successful 1971. American universities erstwhile regularly played Japanese universities successful the 1980s and the 1990s. Flag shot is regularly practiced successful simple schools, and NFL games aerial play successful the state during the regular play and the playoffs.

Matsuzawa’s father, Tetsuhara, had played backmost astatine a Japanese university. But his begetter near the squad aft 1 play complete vexation pinch a deficiency of opportunity, and he hardly said of American shot for the adjacent 30 years, Matsuzawa said. While he was playing shot successful precocious school, Matsuzawa knew about only the New England Patriots, Brady and Montana, a favourite subordinate of his father’s.

Matsuzawa envisioned a early that would support him successful Japan — college, followed by a career. But erstwhile he sat for the country’s rigorous nationalist assemblage entranceway exams, he failed. When it happened again, a 2nd time, it was “the first time, beautiful much, that things didn’t spell the measurement I wanted to,” he said. “I don’t cognize what I want to do successful the future. I conscionable deed the stone bottom.”

He graduated from precocious schoolhouse successful 2017, but different than a part-time occupation waiting tables astatine a Morton’s steakhouse, he seldom felt willing successful leaving his family’s location for the adjacent 2 years. He described himself arsenic contented to play video games successful his room and walk clip pinch his family.

“My family ne'er rushed me, like, ‘You should do this.’ They ne'er opportunity that,” Matsuzawa said. “But that 2 years was really reliable to me. I didn’t person energy. I didn’t person a, like, dream intent of my life. And past my dada hated to spot their boy struggling successful their life. He conscionable gave maine the tickets to the United States, to America, and he told me, like, ‘Just spell extracurricular of Japan and spot successful your eyes what is going on.’”

‘I want to do thing awesome successful the U.S.’

Matsuzawa landed successful San Diego successful early September 2018 pinch 1 backpack and only 2 things connected his itinerary. He had to alert backmost to Japan retired of Los Angeles 2 weeks later, and he had to watch an NFL game.

“That’s an American thing,” he said. “You could watch soccer, shot successful Japan, but not American football.”

Matsuzawa had heard of the San Francisco 49ers done his father, but they were retired of municipality to unfastened the 2018 season. He alternatively made his measurement to Oakland to watch the Raiders lose, 33-13, successful their play opener to the Los Angeles Rams. The crippled was a precocious constituent of a travel that different near Matsuzawa pinch mixed feelings. Unable to speak English, he likened himself to being arsenic helpless arsenic a baby. It compounded the rudderless emotion he’d knowledgeable aft precocious schoolhouse successful Japan.

Sitting successful the stands and witnessing the spectacle of the Raiders-Rams game, though, sparked inspiration for really he could return power of his life. Some friends and family members thought he was crazy. But it provided a extremity for which he could aim.

“I realized this benignant of sucks — erstwhile you spell extracurricular of Japan, you’re conscionable nothing,” he said. “Then I think, you know, I want to do thing awesome successful the U.S. I want to make them recognize I could do thing successful the U.S. by myself.”

Had that inspiration struck Matsuzawa earlier successful his life, he about apt would person fixed the much glamorous positions of backmost aliases receiver a try, he said. But fixed his already delayed preamble to shot and his inheritance successful soccer, placekicking offered the about prudent option.

Now he conscionable had to study it.

On YouTube, Matsuzawa recovered videos of NFL kickers, including Jason Meyers, now of the Seattle Seahawks, and applied what he learned kicking into a elephantine nett astatine a nationalist park. For a while, he could footwear accurately up to about 15 yards. After about a twelvemonth astatine the parkland and sneaking onto a section pinch American-style uprights astatine Kanda University, wherever immoderate of his friends went to school, Matsuzawa wanted to make his task much serious. He made a 90-minute one-way trek from his location to the agency of the Fujitsu Frontiers of the semipro X League and pleaded for a job.

“I asked them, ‘I’m gonna do immoderate you want. Doing filming, for illustration wiping the toilet, aliases immoderate you guys wanted — and past conscionable aft practice, fto maine usage the field,’” he said. “And past that was the deal. And past they say, ‘Yeah, of course.’”

His clip about the Frontiers gave Matsuzawa entree to American-style uprights and coaches and players who he said were encouraging. Eventually, coaches invited him to subordinate kicking and weightlifting sessions pinch the team’s specialists, and it was capable to portion together a item reel that he sent, via nonstop connection connected Twitter, to dozens of U.S. inferior assemblage coaches whose names he’d recovered online. The reels showed his people beardown limb and large size, astatine 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. But only Hocking College, a organization assemblage successful the rural, 4,500-person municipality of Nelsonville, Ohio, agreed.

Moving to agrarian Ohio required an adjustment. He watched clips of “Friends” and “Star Wars” to grasp English. To prevention money, he turned to YouTube again to study to navigator and trim his ain hair. If that was proceedings and correction — he erstwhile trim a 3 -inch-long chunk retired of the backmost of his hairsbreadth — truthful was his kicking. Hocking didn’t person an knowledgeable agelong snapper; the first clip Matsuzawa lined up for a existent footwear successful his first game, a infinitesimal for which he had waited 3 years, the threat from a wide receiver flew complete his head.

At Hawaii, Matsuzawa became an all-America kicker past season, making 27 of 29 section extremity attempts, including 25 consecutive to statesman the season.University of Hawai‘i astatine Mānoa

Matsuzawa made 12 of his 17 kicks during his 2nd play astatine Hocking, including a 50-yard crippled winner. He did amended astatine a nationalist kicking showcase, which earned him the attraction of the University of Hawaii, a Division I programme that could connection him his biggest vulnerability successful beforehand of NFL executives. But his first play astatine Hawaii, successful 2023, was spent arsenic a backup, and successful 2024 he went 12-for-16, pinch a play agelong of 41 yards. Last summer, he entered the play pinch immoderate trepidation, because the schoolhouse had to scramble to find a teammate who knew really to clasp for placekicks, but he besides returned pinch his assurance aft having worked pinch a intelligence coach.

Over luncheon during preseason, Hawaii’s agelong snapper told Matsuzawa he was about to person a large twelvemonth and needed to proactively deliberation about a nickname. The snapper tossed retired an idea: “the Tokyo Toe.”

The world would soon study it.

Anonymous to overnight celebrity

In past season’s first game, Matsuzawa made 3 section goals, including a 38-yarder successful the last seconds, to hit Stanford. His family watched from the stands.

“Winning the game, that is the champion infinitesimal successful your life,” he said. “That is the champion emotion you could ever feel.” He felt “a small spot addicted to being successful, and erstwhile you consciousness it you want to consciousness more.”

Within days, the subordinate who had shown up to the U.S. knowing almost nary English was doing interviews pinch immoderate of the largest media outlets successful the U.S. He stayed successful the news by making his first 25 section goals past fall, matching the NCAA grounds for about consecutive makes to statesman a season, which had stood for 43 years, and finishing 27-of-29 connected the play to gain statement all-America honors, the first clip that had happened successful Hawaii’s schoolhouse history.

Though he wasn’t selected successful April’s seven-round draft, that hasn’t stopped Matsuzawa from becoming 1 of the about talked-about rookies. The NFL’s Japan-focused Instagram relationship has less than 19,000 followers, yet a station showing video of the infinitesimal the Raiders called Matsuzawa to pass him he’d beryllium signed arsenic a free supplier has earned much than 100,000 likes. He called being signed by the Raiders, the franchise he watched successful his first NFL game, a “full-circle moment.”

Matsuzawa attended the 2026 NFL draught successful Pittsburgh. He is portion of the NFL's International Player Pathway, a programme started successful 2017 to springiness world players a chance to create connected NFL rosters.Lauren Leigh Bacho / Getty Images file

Since Matsuzawa began training successful Southern California successful the winter, Japanese media based successful the U.S. person dropped by EBS Performance’s compact training facility, a fewer miles from the Pacific Ocean, to grounds segments. Hollywood has shown liking successful his backstory. In April, he met Meyers, the kicker aft whom he modeled himself.

“Timing is everything; intelligence is everything,” said Byrd, a longtime trainer of NFL hopefuls. “It’s a batch of things that person to spell into spot for thing to work, and we are each looking for thing that’s different. This is different.”

“Obviously, it’s fun” to vault from anonymity to being a sensation successful 2 countries, Matsuzawa said, yet it isn’t surreal. Believing truthful powerfully he would footwear successful the NFL led him to expect a breakout moment. It conscionable happened to hap successful the past 9 months.

“Every clip I spot my Instagram pursuing is going up, I was like, ‘Oh, this is amazing; this is truthful funny,’” he said. “But [I’m] trying to abstracted myself and what group deliberation aliases what group say. I benignant of knew that was gonna hap to me, because I ever opportunity I want to beryllium an NFL player.”

He is one, for now. Seeing a chap free supplier trim only a fewer days into rookie minicamp pinch the Raiders woke up Matsuzawa to the reality that though his spot successful the world pathway allows for a perchance longer enactment connected a roster, his spot successful the ruthlessly competitory NFL isn’t guaranteed. If thing else, the past 8 years person taught Matsuzawa the powerfulness of self-belief. It’s why he talks to himself earlier each kick.

“Tell myself, like, ‘I’m elite,’” he said. “‘I make this section goal.’”