05.06.2002

japantoday > sport

Japanese fans have a ball — and not a mobile phone in sight

Japanese fans show their colors in the 90% full Saitama stadium during the game against Belgium Tuesday. REUTERS

SAITAMA — Japanese supporters dominated Saitama stadium on the outskirts of Tokyo during their opening FIFA World Cup match Tuesday night. Only a couple of hundred identifiable Belgium fans dotted the behind-the-goal area that their team attacked in the second half. Even more astounding was the absence of any mobile phone in sight among the crowd.

The rest of the stadium was largely a mass of blue, with apparently as many as 90% of fans having invested in some sort of replica shirt. The choice of names on the back demonstrated an enormous plurality, although Hidetoshi Nakata would probably have shaded any shirt-count.

Striker Atsushi Yanagisawa, though, was the only player to have his name chanted with any regularity on the night, even if Arsenal's Junichi Inamoto outshone him on the field. The only other significant chant was the rather predictable "Japan, Japan" delivered to a variety of tunes.

But what the fans lacked in originality they made up for in volume. The 55,000-person crowd belied their nation's reputation for eschewing public displays of passion. They screamed, shouted and applauded every referee's decision in their favor.

Toshiaki Ebina, for one, could hardly control his emotions. Screaming, "Yes, yes!" when Japan attacked and performing high fives with all around him when they scored, he was scarcely able to speak when asked about his impressions. "I feel nice. Good noise!" was all he managed to gasp during a rare break in play.

The excitement was such that it was possible to see the unusual sight of large numbers of Japanese not one of whom was using a mobile phone. The constellation of camera flashes as the match kicked off was a reminder, however, of the nation's obsession with technology.

The crowd was also characteristically well-behaved. Even when the video screen surprisingly showed replays of Inamoto's controversially disallowed goal minutes before the end of the match, it provoked no more than discontented muttering. The draw was well received by fans, who stayed to applaud the team off the pitch.

All in all, an encouraging start for the host nation and her supporters. The match moved one fan, Yasutoshi Ito, to declare, "If the Japanese team can win, win, win, soccer could become more popular here than baseball." (FIFAworldcup.com)

© 2002 Grieger - Alle Rechte vorbehalten - Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr
Veröffentlichungen, auch auszugsweise nur mit vorheriger schriftlicher Genehmigung