Hiromi Hara

Hiromi Hara (原 博実, Hara Hiromi, born October 19, 1958) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. He currently serves as technical director for the Japanese national football team.

After graduating from Waseda University in 1981, Hara joined Mitsubishi Motors (later to be Urawa Red Diamonds) as a forward.

Between 1978 and 1988 Hara played 75 games for the Japanese national football team, scoring 32 goals. Hara was known for his headers and was aptly nicknamed the "Asian Nuclear Warhead".

Coaching career

Urawa Red Diamonds

Hara retired from football in 1992 and began his new career as the coach of the Youth Team of his old club, which had been renamed by this point as Urawa Red Diamonds. In 1998 Hara became the manager of Urawa's top squad. Initially he saw success, with the team achieving a 3rd place finish for J.League's second stage in 1998. However, during J.League's first stage of 1999, the team finished 13th in the standings and Hara was released.

Following his release from Urawa, Hara travelled to Spain to study the coaching methods applied by several La Liga clubs. Upon returning to Japan, he spent two years working as a commentator for Sky PerfecTV!.

FC Tokyo

In 2002 Hara decided to return to coaching as the manager of FC Tokyo. He brought youngsters such as Naohiro Ishikawa, Teruyuki Moniwa and Akira Kaji, introduced Spanish-style tactics into the young and fresh team, and won J.League Cup in 2004. Hara was released from his position as manager of the club in 2005. However in 2007 he was re-appointed as the club's manager, but was again released only after one season.

Japanese national team

On 12 February 2009, Hara was appointed by JFA as its new technical director for the Japanese national football team, responsible for strengthening the national team. After fellow Waseda alumnus Takeshi Okada stepped down after leading Japan to a lauded performance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Hara was given the responsibility for finding his replacement, which was revealed in late August after protracted negotiations in Europe to be the Italian manager Alberto Zaccheroni. He also took charge in a caretaker capacity for the friendlies against Paraguay, leading Japan to a 1-0 win, and Guatemala, both of which were held at his former hunting ground in Saitama.