Adventurasia Community

Up until recently, I’d have to say that I really wasn’t too interested in football (or soccer as it is called in Canada / USA). This all changed during the Japan v Belgium match which took place on June 4 6:00 PM. After that match, my outlook and interest in football was to change (for the better many would argue). It could also be because NHL hockey was coming to a close, and my home team, the Canucks got knocked out during the first round.

Anyways,

I still remember the day. I had just finished work and my coworker asked if I was interested in popping over to the bar to watch the game. As I didn’t have any plans, I said sure! We headed to the Meguro Tavern, about a 10 minute walk. It was packed with people and we were refused entry. Some people were watching the game from a 10 inch screen! Desperate to at least keep up-to-date with what’s happening, my friend offered to stand outside the door and just listen to the match… This didn’t last long, and we went in search for another place.

The bar people were kind enough to recommend another nearby bar in which we could try out, the name which escapes me at the moment. It was packed as well, but we were able to catch glimpses of the match. It was so packed that we couldn’t even get in to order drinks. It was all very exciting, and it was nice to hear both foreigners and Japanese alike cheering on the Japanese team.

After the game, we headed to our favourite Nepalese/Tibetan restaurant located near the station. I highly recommend this place and plan to do a review of it in the near future. The food is always excellent, home-made, fresh, tasty. The owners seem to be very nice people - sometimes they will give us little freebies. You can get a bottle of wine for about 1500 yen, and we usually get a couple.

After this game, I started to check out the news on cnn, bbc, fifaworldcup, 2002upfront etc… I turned on the television and watched various highlights. People at work would be talking about the game.

On June 7th, I got off work early and headed to the Town Cryer in Kamiyacho. There was a gathering of people in the education materials publishing industry and by the time I arrived, they had already secured a table right in front of the big screen! Couldn’t ask for anything better (other than being there live, in person). I saw parts of the Spain v Paraguay match. However what I and probably 95% of the patrons wanted to see was the England v Argentina match. It was very tense yet exciting. Over on the side there was the Irish contingent. They didn’t seem that happy - or perhaps their lack of emotion/expression is common?

The next morning, I had to wake up early for a hiking trip. Everybody was talking about the matches. And we were already trying to decide which bar to go to after the hike to watch the match - it didn’t matter to us which match, we just wanted to share in the excitement of this world class game along with hundreds of other fans. Unfortunately for us, we got back to Tokyo rather late, and it was difficult to find a place to watch the game - we went to a local iizakaya instead. This place was really good as well - I even prepared freshly sliced wasabi that i bought on the mountain much to the amazement of the waiter. You see, several years ago, my ex-coworker had told me that Japanese people often eat wasabi followed by a shot of sake. I’ve been hooked ever since. However, I didn’t know how it would go with sliced wasabi. The waiter was so curious about this idea that he gave us a free cup of Japanese sake!

On June 9th, i watched most of the Ecuador v Mexico match. It was great. I was then off to the theatre to watch the friendly neighbourhood spiderman with some friends. (the movie in my opinion is a bit corny and I would rather have seen Japan v Russia). On my way back home, I bumped into some Japanese hooligans. They were causing a huge ruckus at the train station. It was frightening. You would be frightened to if you read about some of the propoganda leading up to the World Cup. (Little did they know that the hooligans would actually be homegrown rather than imported).

So generally what’s it like being in Japan during the World Cup? It’s great I think. One advantage is that the games are in the same time zone - so we can watch the games during the days on the weekends / in the evenings on work days. There’s been a larger than normal influx of foreigners around Tokyo which is always a welcome, if not interesting and amusing sight. Reminds me when I first set foot on this island nation. You also see many ‘instant Japanese fans’ who are wearing kits of their favourite players - Nakata, Inamoto etc. (In fact, I’m thinking of getting one for myself!). The bars / night life is even more lively than normal. And perhaps most important is that the visitors are behaving themselves, shattering most of the beliefs the locals may have had before the games started. I bet some of the cops must feel pretty foolish and are hoping that something happens to make their shift more interesting.

Well, I’m rooting for Japan this Friday when they play against Tunisia. My boss mentioned that we might be able to take the afternoon off as well (barring any emergencies of course) to catch the 3:30 PM game. I’m also rooting for England + any minnows (underdogs) in the matches. I probably shouldn’t really say this, but I am quite happy to hear that both Argentina and France did not make it to the next round.

Finally, here are some links that I recommend:
Football Culture Japan (no personal bias of course!)
2002 FIFA World Cup official site

Filed under: Japan