Isn't the j-League underrated?

[ryouto]

Considering that all of the national team players are from the j-league early in their careers, isn't it strange that most of the j-league players are not even good enough for the third and fourth divisions in England?

[Marc Vaughan]

Hi - firstly the research for each league in the game is undertaken by people who watch those clubs, players and divisions and not something that us developers have direct control over.

The second thing I'd mention is that flicking through the database quickly the Japanese player standard is nowhere near as low as you're indicating with the average level looking far more on a par with the English Championship.

In general (and this is VERY rough) .... Current Ability in the game is on a scale of 1-200 ...

For 'first teams':
Continental Standard (ie. later stages of European club comps) - 145-150
English Premiership - Average roughly 135-140
English Championship - Average roughly 115-120
..
Japanese J-League Standard - 105-115 or there about, so around Championship level or just below.
Better J-league Team Standard - 115-125 or there about, so Championship level for sure (better players are near Premiership standard)

The big different glancing at things is that the English leagues appear to be a lot more physically competitive, whereas the Japanese leagues seem to have more older backup players active (ie. Yuta Minami playing at 43, Koja Homma 45, Shinji Ono 43, Yashito Endo 42) ... the lower physical side of things might be what is giving you that perception? (in all honesty looking at things if I was to manage in that league I'd prioritize fitness/physical development first and foremost as it'd likely give somewhat of an edge generally ... at least until other teams followed suit).

PS - I don't personally watch the J-League in real-life (at least partially because its not televised here), so this is based on my looking at the game database.