JapanNewbie

Soccer High

Posted on 14. Jun, 2002 @ 11:14 am by harvey in Culture Views: 85

Today Japan defeated Tunisia to make it to the best 16, for what I think is the first time ever. Japan showed a powerful display of kicking, and passing, corner kicks and whatnot to take a 2-0 win over Tunsinia. I am not a soccer reporter.

In other news, Korea won too! And they’re also going to the final 16, for the first time in history. This time I’m sure… because I checked another source.

Anyway… Read a paper for details about the match…

I was going to Shinjuku to meet up with my new fellow co-workers after the game. It’s stupid of me not to, but I didn’t realize that downtown Tokyo would be in chaos after the match was over.

Hundreds and hundreds… wait, thousands, this is Tokyo… I can say thousands and not exagerating right? Hundreds of thousands of fans, all decked out in blue, just like their soccer heroes were running around Tokyo chanting and clapping like they had won the championship.

‘Nippon! *clapclapclap* Nippon! *clapclapclap*’

Shortly after I neared my subway exit the station filled, and when I got up the streets I found them packed. Check the pictures to see what it was like. Fun stuff.

Crazy drunken Japanese youth sure didn’t shy away from the camera either! People were posing for me more often than I needed. That reminds me… I need to get down to Harajuku…

The amount of energy was amazing. It was like when my university almost won the Final Four NCAA tournament. However… since there are quite a bit more people in Tokyo than at my university… I think you can imagine that it was on a larger scale. I seriously have never seen anything quite like that since I did new years, 2001, in Florence Italy. Florence had more flying wine bottles, and a bit more kissing, but the amount of people, the fireworks, the energy, everything else was there.

Man. I wonder what new years in Tokyo would be like?! It must be insane. Are there any other events that bring so many people out onto the streets of Japan? Seriously, if anyone has heard of or experienced anything like that in Tokyo before, please let us know by posting a comment or mentioning it in the forums.

I posted some pictures here. When I was in the subway waiting for my friends, I noticed that suddenly out of nowhere these Asahi Shinbun guys showed up and started passing out ���{�A����T�i�o papers like mad. Everyone was swarming to get one, I got one too… Too bad mine was near destroyed in my walk home in the rain. Heh.

I’ll shut up now.

-Harvey