Who was the first Asian player in the premier league?

By my count there were 45 players born in an Asian country that were on 40 man active rosters in the 2008 season: Masao Kida - Tokyo, Japan

Akinori Iwamura - Ehime, Japan

Shigetoshi Hasegawa - Kobe, Japan

Kazuhisa Ishii - Chiba, Japan

Dave Roberts - Okinawa, Japan

Akinori Otsuka - Chiba, Japan

Ichiro Suzuki - Kasugai, Japan

Tomo Ohka - Kyoto, Japan

Michael Nakamura - Nara, Japan

Hideki Matsui - Ishikawa, Japan

Stephen Randolph - Okinawa, Japan

Keiichi Yabu - Mie, Japan

Shingo Takatsu - Hiroshima, Japan

Kazuhito Tadano - Tokyo, Japan

Norihiro Nakamura - Osaka, Japan

Tadahito Iguchi - Tokyo, Japan

Kaz Matsui - Osaka, Japan

Takashi Saito - Miyagi, Japan

Hiroki Kuroda - Osaka, Japan

Daisuke Matsuzaka - Tokyo, Japan

Kenji Johjima - Sasebo, Japan

So Taguchi - Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Hideo Nomo - Osaka, Japan

Hideki Okajima - Kyoto, Japan

Kei Igawa - Oarai, Japan

Masahide Kobayashi - Yamanashi, Japan

Kosuke Fukudome - Osaki, Japan

Masumi Kuwata - Osaka, Japan

Kazuo Fukumori - Miyakonojo, Japan

Tom Mastny - East Bontang, Indonesia

Chan Ho Park - Kongju, South Korea

Sun Woo Kim - Inchon, South Korea

Byung-Hyun Kim - Kwangsan-Ku Songjungdong, South Korea

Jung Bong - Seoul, South Korea

Hee-Seop Choi - Chun-Nam, South Korea

Shin-Soo Choo - Pusan, South Korea

Dae-Sung Koo - Daejeon, South Korea

Cha Seung Baek - Busan, South Korea

Tommy Phelps - Seoul, South Korea

Jae Kuk Ryu - Choon Chung Do, South Korea

Chin-Feng Chen - Tainan City, Taiwan

Chin-lung Hu - Tainan City, Taiwan

Hong-Chih Kuo - Tainan City, Taiwan

Chin-hui Tsao - Hua-Lien, Taiwan

Chien-Ming Wang - Tainan, Taiwan