BOLTON has never seen the like of it.

No foreign signing - and there have been scores in recent years - has ever attracted his own exclusive media posse.

Akinori Nishizawa himself is said to have been overwhelmed by the attention.

But he is going to have to get used to it. The journalists from Japan, who almost outnumbered English reporters at the Reebok on Tuesday night, are here to stay.

And if "Nishy" manages to make an impact in the Premiership, the pack will grow even bigger.

The sports-loving Japanese public are hungry for news about their exports and the press are determined to feed them all they can get.

Unfortunately that has only amounted to announcing his signing, second hand reports of his hat-trick at Boston United, impressions of his undistinguished debut against Alaves, when he was sent on as an early substitute for Henrik Pedersen, and a timid "no comment" when asked to reflect on life in Bolton. After the Bilbao game last Friday, which he missed because of an ankle injury, he was so overwhelmed by a throng of a dozen or so reporters in the reception area of the Reebok that he is reported to have called for an interpreter - despite the fact that his inquisitors were all fellow countrymen who might struggle at times with the vagiaries of the English language but have no trouble conversing in their mother tongue!

Some had to fly back to Japan, others decided against making a return visit but nine, mostly London-based, were undaunted and came back for more on Tuesday: representatives of two Japanese news agencies, two national daily newspapers and five national daily sports publications. Their persistence was rewarded when they finally managed to grab him for an interview later that night but they were caught out yesterday when, expecting to see him at Southport, they were shocked to hear that he had played and scored in a private friendly against Alaves earlier in the day!

"This sort of intense interest happens all the time," said Kosuke Inagaki, the London-based sports correspondent of Japan's daily newspaper, Asahi Shimbun.

"It was the same when Hidetoshi Nakata, now with Parma, signed for Perugia in Italy after the World Cup in France in 1998. All the correspondents stayed there for months and months.

"Now we have Junichi Inamoto at Arsenal and Shinji Ono at Feyenoord in Holland as well as Nashizawa here. Inamoto won't get too many chances at Arsenal so we are looking for Nishizawa to be playing in the first team."

The concensus among the Japanese press is that their man, talented though he is, might be a bit lightweight for the physical challenge of the Premiership but they are hoping he can adapt and give them something to tell their readers back home, particularly in Osaka, where he is a local hero and where news of his Boston hat-trick was splashed on the front page of the morning paper.

"He made his debut in the national team a couple of years ago," Inagaki recalls. "He scored a magnificent goal against France in a friendly in Morocco in June 2000 and he did well in the Asian Cup, which Japan won.

"If he does play regularly in the Premiership there will be a lot of interest from the people in Osaka."

But Nishizawa will have to win the Golden Boot and the Premiership title if he is to match the frenzy that surrounds the most sought after of all Japan's sporting exports.

For seven years, a guy by the name of Ichiro has been the leading hitter in Major League Baseball - star of the Seattle Mariners and first batter in last year's All Stars game. And for seven years he has had an army of at least 50 Japanese media men on his tail, reporting every ball he plays - season in, season out!