FeatureHow Wataru Endo is inspiring footballers in Japan with vlogs and a self-help book

Liverpool's No.3 covers just about everything in his life in regular video blogs and articles for subscribers to his own platform.

The father-of-four has also written what's been described as a self-help book called Duel, with its subtitle reading '30 ways of thinking that don't need correct answers'.

Captaining the Japan national team and playing for one of the world's biggest clubs, Endo is using his position of prominence to inspire others and lay down a path to follow.

"He's kind of a life-coach guru," Simon Ta, the YouTuber Liverpool Fan In Japan, tells Liverpoolfc.com.

"A lot of players have done autobiographies and shared a lot of their playing careers via books. But in terms of online persona and really, really sharing that detail and that personal stuff, I don't really recall anyone doing it to the extent that Endo does it.

"Endo has his own following and has done over 100 videos – some are incredibly long, an hour or two hours, and some are incredibly short.

"He really wants to share everything about everything, so that anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps can see the reality of it, not the glitz and the glamour.

"With his vlog he's showing that, 'Don't be afraid of where you've come from, your stature.'"

Endo's journey is one of patience and perseverance. After beginning his professional career at Shonan Bellmare, stints at Urawa Red Diamonds, Belgian side Sint-Truiden VV and with VfB Stuttgart paved the way for him to become a Liverpool player at the age of 30.

He had already started creating his content – under the title Monthly Wataru Endo – before becoming a Red.

The midfielder sought to fill what he felt was a gap in detailed football analysis back in his homeland.

Indeed, Endo will get out his magnetic tactics boards to demonstrate the inner workings of a game he's just played in.

The Pick Up Match feature has become a must-watch for those in Japan keen to enhance their tactical understanding.

"It is just incredible that a footballer goes this deep into all the matches he played in and everything he tells is so interesting," Yumiko Tamaru, branch secretary of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club in Japan, notes.

"I have never heard such a detailed match analysis from any other Liverpool players. I also find it amazing that he has [such] good memory and remembers every detail very clearly.

"Both his blogs and videos go deep into the details of the matches he played in – how he played, what he was thinking about and aiming at when he was playing, especially when he had to defend, how his teammates played, how he builds the relationship with his teammates during the matches, what Jürgen Klopp required, what Pep Lijnders said to him, how he values his teammates, and so on.

"I think he has a huge influence on lots of footballers in Japan and he is inspiring them a lot."

And then there are the glimpses into his life away from the pitch.

Ta reveals: "Shinji Okazaki went to see a match and they drove home together and his mum was just talking with Okazaki!"

When Endo talks, people in Japan listen, given where he's reached in football and as leader of the national team. That was the case long before his switch to Liverpool.

But becoming just the second Japanese player to represent the Reds' men's team (after Takumi Minamino) only further enhanced his stature.

Dedicated compatriots now regularly brave the early-morning rises, owing to the nine-hour time difference, to watch Endo shine in England.

On the reaction to his August 2023 transfer, Ta recalls: "It was euphoria, it was on the news all the time. The coverage was tremendous.

"Football magazines are still very, very popular here. The old-school format of collectable cards and printed flyers and posters, Endo in the Liverpool uniform was everywhere."