He is also NZ born and bred, eligible to represent nz in the future should he wish to and is head and shoulder above any other AW RBs...
I thought he'd given up his Kiwi citizenship to become Japanese and had ruled out playing for NZ
http://www.newshub.co.nz/sport/michael-fitzgerald-...
This article is from 2013. There is an article in this thread since then (I think when ACFC visited Japan) where Fitzgerald was interviewed, and said he wouldn't rule out trying to make AWs again, specifically to try and play in a World Cup. Fair enough, and who knows if Oceania was given an automatic spot for Qatar. He might be tempted to leave Japan??
Really what he has done by getting Japanese citizenship to qualify as a local player, is no different to what Krishna has done. Only problem is that Japan, unlike NZ don't allow dual citizenship. Otherwise Fitzgerald would still be eligible for the AWs.
You can't really blame him qualifying as Japanese, when it's a pretty good country to live (thousands of Kiwis have chosen to live in Japan for a year or two at least), I think his brother also lives there, and there are 18 J League teams that all need Japanese players. Contrast that to NZ will one pro team, or how much harder it is in Europe without a Euro passport.
He's age 30, experienced playing in Asia (could even get a few games in the ME this year, if Kawasaki go on an ACL run) and probably has a few years left as a pro. This is when most of the AWs first choice CBs are older than that, and/or injury prone. Still worth keeping an eye on.