Japanese referees Yuichi Nishimura (men) and Sachiko Yamagishi (women) received the 2012 AFC Referee of the Year Award during the 2012 AFC Annual Awards. A happy Nishimura: “I think on the refereeing side there are no big differences between Europe and Asia. That’s because Asian referees have high standards. I think it’s only different on the football side.” Nishimura als praises his colleague Ravshan Irmatov from Uzbekistan. “Mr. Ravshan is a fantastic referee.” Have a look at the interview on the AFC YouTube Channel. If you understand Japanese, you might be interested in the interview with the female winner Sachiko Yamagishi.