is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He currently plays for

Iwate Grulla Morioka is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, Iwate. It played in the inaugural season of J3 League in 2014 after winning the Tohoku Soccer League, one of the Japanese Regional Leagues, in 2013. Iwate played in the J3 until 2021, wh ...

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

. He has previously had loan spells with the J.League U-22 Selection and

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

outfit

Zweigen Kanazawa Zweigen Kanazawa (ツエーゲン金沢, ''Tsuēgen Kanazawa'') is a Japanese football club based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japan's 2nd tier of professional league football. History The club was form ...

. His playing position is

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and he has spent most of his career as a backup 'keeper.

Club career

Born in Minoh in the north of Osaka, Tajiri came up through Gamba Osaka's youth system and earned his first professional contract ahead of the 2012 season. He spent his first 5 years with the club as a reserve and didn't see a single minute of game time. He finally got the chance to get on the field in 2017. After starting the season as third-choice goalkeeper, an injury to first-choice

Masaaki Higashiguchi is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Gamba Osaka and the Japan national football team. He previously played for Albirex Niigata. Club career A native of Osaka, Higashiguchi spent time in Gamba Osaka's youth syste ...

saw Tajiri make the bench for the clash at home to

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

on 19 March 2017. Starting goalkeeper

Yōsuke Fujigaya is a former Japanese football player. Club career Fujigaya was born in Hamamatsu on 13 February 1981. After graduating from high school, he joined Consadole Sapporo in 1999. He became a regular goalkeeper instead Yohei Sato from 2003. He moved ...

got injured in the 73rd minute and Tajiri was brought on as a replacement with Gamba leading 1-0 courtesy of

Yasuyuki Konno is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender for Nankatsu SC. He played for Japan national team. He regular plays as either a defensive midfielder or a centre back. He has previously played for Consadole Sapporo ...

's goal earlier in the second half. Unfortunately he was unable to keep a clean sheet and Rafael Silva equalised for Urawa in the 92nd minute. That was to be his only appearance for Gamba in 2017 and he was then loaned out to J2 side

for the next 18 months where he was only able to play 9 league games before moving back to Osaka for the 2019 season. Tajiri played 9 games across the 2014 and 2015 seasons for the J.League U-22 Selection, a team set up to increase the number of competitors in J3 League and also give a platform for young Japanese players to perform ahead of the

2016 Olympic games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. The following year he played 13 times for Gamba Osaka's newly formed Under-23 side in J3 League.

Club statistics

Last update: ''2 December 2018''

Reserves performance

References

External links

* 1993 births Living people Association football people from Osaka Prefecture People from Minoh, Osaka Japanese men's footballers J1 League players J2 League players J3 League players Gamba Osaka players Gamba Osaka U-23 players Zweigen Kanazawa players J.League U-22 Selection players Gainare Tottori players category:Iwate Grulla Morioka players Men's association football goalkeepers {{Japan-footy-goalkeeper-stub