Ao Tanaka has been called up to the Japanese national side ahead of their friendly matches against England and Scotland, in preparation for this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
The Japanese international has featured 24 times this term for Daniel Farke’s side, and has netted three times in all competitions.
Ahead of international duty, the midfielder spoke to leedsunited.com to share what it means to him to play for Japan.
“It is always good for me to play for the national team and I am so happy every time I play,” Ao stated, after receiving his call-up.
“The last time we played was November, and soon we have the World Cup so this is an important month!
“I am so excited because we do not normally play against a European country because they have qualifiers, so it is a good thing for us.
“Before the World Cup, we want to play against a good country so yeah, it is good to have these hard games coming up.”
Looking ahead to playing at Wembley Stadium the Japanese international said: “It is my first time playing at Wembley, the last time we played England I watched on TV, so it will be good!”
Fixture: Scotland vs Japan
Date: Saturday 28th March
Time: 5.00pm (GMT)
Venue: Hampden Park
Fixture: England vs Japan
Date: Tuesday 31st March
Time: 7.45pm (GMT)
Venue: Wembley Stadium
