Tatsuo Mikami

Former goalkeeper of the Japanese national team, Genzo Wakabayashi's coach, All Japan Jr. Youth's coach First appearance in Captain Tsubasa chapter 1 Former goalkeeper of the Japanese national team. He is the personal coach of Wakabayashi. He was be the first to find out who Roberto really is. He made Wakabayashi follow a hellish training before his match against Nankatsu and Tsubasa. As Wakabayashi felt depressed after taking a goal, Mikami hit him and told him that he would stop coaching him. That made Wakabayashi return to the field with more composure.

At Wakabayashi's side as he was unable to play during most of the national tournament, he took care of Wakabayashi's injury in order to help him play the final match. Wanting the Japanese soccer to level up at all cost, after the tournament he was sent by the Japanese soccer organisation to West Germany. Before leaving, he asked Wakabayashi if he wanted to go with him, and Wakabayashi agreed. Mikami returned to Japan alone after 3 years, to see the middle school national tournament. His objective is to gather the best players to form the All Japan Jr. Youth team, in order to take part in the International Jr. Youth Tournament in France.

Mikami listened to the players' wishes a lot, followed Misugi's tactical suggestions, and even accepted the decision from some of the players not to let Tsubasa play. He asked his former pupil Wakabayashi to play the role of the bad guy, in order for the team to realize the strength of the other countries. His tactical decisions proved great in the first two matches, as he kept Misaki and Misugi as secret weapons, which overturned the tide of these matches. However, he made a mistake by listening to Misugi and the Tachibana twins in the match against France, by letting them play, which left Japan with no substitutions left, only 10 players on the field, and 5 of them being injured in extra time.