Shuhei Yomoda has been named J1 Manager of the Month for May after an excellent month that saw his Yokohama FC team climb from the bottom of the table up to the relative safety of 16th place.

The Fulie entered the month as the top flight’s lone winless team and struggling in their fight to stay in J1 for a second season, but that changed with a win over Albirex Niigata to kick off May. They added two more wins in the month, besting Kashiwa Reysol and stunning giants Kawasaki Frontale with a defense that conceded just one goal total over their three wins.

Yokohama still have work to do the rest of the season as they aim to avoid the drop, but things are looking up as Yomoda has begun to pull the defense together.

J2 Manager of the Month was awarded to a familiar face: Machida Zelvia’s Go Kuroda.

Kuroda won the first Manager of the Month honor of the season for his work in February and March, and now he has the May award to his name too. Machida won four and drew one of their six May matches to retain their place atop the second division table and inch ever closer to promotion.

Manager of the Month in J3 went to Kagoshima United’s Naoto Otake, who guided his team to three wins from three in May and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 8-2.