Option 2:

Playing in Japan is hardly anything new for Ju-gong. Just before being recruited to the SMJHL, the young Korean boy was playing in the ALIH with AL Anyang, the top Korean hockey club that constantly made trips to Japan in order to play games. Not only does he know a bit of Japanese from these trips, but he would also have a small fanbase among the Korean hockey fans living in Japan. If anything, he would be able to show the team around, navigate the airports and subways, and generally be about as useful as a guide could be without being from the actual country. That said, the games themselves would certainly be far less intense and exciting than the ones back in the US and Canada. The sport was still growing in East Asia, so even with some enthusiastic crowds, it simply couldn’t compare to packed arenas back in the big leagues. On the bright side, it was easy to have his parents attend these games, which makes the games much more important to Ju-gong.