Tatsunori Arai

Tatsunori Arai (新居 辰基) is a Japanese former football player.

Early life
Arai was born in Tobetsu, Hokkaido on December 22, 1983. He played youth football for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo.

Playing career
He joined the J1 League club Consadole Sapporo from his youth team in 2002. He debuted in April and played several matches as forward in 2002. However Consadole finished in last place in the 2002 season and was relegated to the J2 League. He played many matches as substitute forward in 2003.

In October 2004, he joined the Regional Leagues club Shizuoka FC.

In 2005, he moved to the J2 club Sagan Tosu. He became a regular forward and became a top scorer in 2005 and 2006.

In 2007, he moved to the J1 club JEF United Chiba. He played often over three seasons. However did not score many goals and JEF United was relegated to the J2 league at the end of the 2009 season.

In 2010, he moved to the newly promoted J1 club, Shonan Bellmare. He made his debut for Shonan against Montedio Yamagata on 6 March 2010.

In 2011, he moved to the J2 club Sagan Tosu for the first time in five years. He retired at the end of the 2011 season.

Personal life
He was arrested, along with teammate Koji Nakao, for driving under the influence and was dismissed with Nakao in August.