As expected the Japanese national goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima signed his contract today with Lierse.
It's a two year deal, with an option for a further year.

At a packed press conference at 3pm, the Japanese was introduced to national and international press. 56 press personnel were at the conference at the Lisp, 16 from Belgium, 40 from Japan.

Maged Samy got proceedings under way, and welcomed the press. Maged spoke of an important transfer for Lierse, and was proud that Lierse had been able to secure such a strong international goalkeeper.

Then it was the turn of Kawashima himself, who surprisingly begun to address those present in Dutch: "Hallo, alles goe? (''Hello, everything ok?''). My name is Kawashima, I've come from Japan to Lier. I love Lierse, and Belgium. Dankuwel!".

For a half hour Kawashima answered questions in English, and a number also in Japanese from the Japanese media. Then it was time for photos on the pitch, where he continued to give interviews for a further hour to the various television channels.

To finish off his day he took a look in our fanshop, and went to meet some Lierse fans in the themacafé.

Tomorrow (Thursday) Kawashima will travel to Cadzand (Holland), to meet up with the other players and coaching staff. On Friday he'll return to Japan, where he still has to sort out a number of administrative matters. He'll return to rejoin the squad in the following week.

Kawashima will wear the no.1 shirt at Lierse.

You can watch 3 video's below, and two photogalleries.