Bring a smile to children's' faces in Paraguay!

Hoｌa! This is Atsushi!


We arrived at Paraguay after we had made quick visits to Iguassu Falls through Brazil and Argentina.

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We came to a small village called Santo Domingo, which is located 50 km away from Ciudad del Este.

It was already 6 pm when we got here. 

We'd been Iguassu Falls till 3 pm. So exhausted.

Why we came to this unknown village?

I wanted to see one of our friends Emi, who is a member of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV). Emi is the lest in the phto.

Okkun, who is a friend of Ken, introduced Emi to us. Okkun and Emi are colleagues in JOCV. 

Emi told me there are only 600 people in this village. It is totally middle of nowhere!

I think this is the right place to conduct the first "Round-the-world-Journey" charity project.

For those who don't know about this project, please refer to here

So, we bought a soccer ball at a shopping mall near Foz Do Iduassu.

It cost 1,900 yen.

So far, 31 T-shirts have been sold out, making 15,500 yen.

We gonna report what is to be done with those funds on this blog.

When we hand in the ball, we gave it to the village head not to make the kids fight over it.

The village head was a dandyish guy.

Then we went straight to the field to play football with the children.

It was almost dusk.

We tool a photo with soccer fans in the village.

Everyone is barefoot except us.

By the way, a cow was unleashed in the field.

This is totally idyllic scene. I like this but bunch of cattle dung.

In a meantime, it's getting dark. So we divided them into two teams; Atushi United and Ken FC. Hahaha

We should have kicked off earlier. Can't see the ball.

Finally, the time's up! Atsushi United won!

They were so good players, even though they're barefoot.

This is the way our charity funds raised by everyone are spent.

Your charitable spirit brings a smile to children's faces.

If you'd like to cooperate with us, please visit the following website.

ttp://www.libero2010.net/store

If you are inconvenient with Japanese, just e-mail us!

Also please check our charity in Honduras!!

Click here!

After the game, we were invited to the dinner by the village head.

I didn't expect this during our "charity".

She cooked us local chicken stewed.

They serves us beer. 

I was treated like a member of the family!

There are many wild animals as well in the house!

This is not a little puppy but a little ＰＩＧ!!

All the scenes in the village can be seen in the following video.

Our blog's title "Football Unites the World" is exemplified in this movie.

A soccer ball makes it possible to overcome the language barrier!!

We are glad to bring smiles to all the children in the world from now on.

We rushed into the Iguassu Falls in Brazil.

Com esta? This is Ken.

We went to the Iguassu Falls in Brazil.

This waterfall is located on the border of the Brazilian state of Parana and the Argentine province of Misiones.

The first day, we wanna see it from Argentine side.

We could see the falls from the hotel we stayed.

But as we got closer to it, we were absolutely amazed by the landscape !!

Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height !!

Admittion fee of a National Park is 85 peso (=about $ 20 USD)

The Argentine access is facilitated by the Rain forest Ecological train, which brings visitors to different walkways. The Paseo Garganta del Diablo is a one-kilometer-long trail that brings the visitor directly over the falls of the Devil's Throat. Other walkways allow access to the elongated stretch of falls on the Argentine side and to the ferry that connects to San Martin island.

A rainbow appeared some times. How beautiful!

I think that you are wondering who this pretty Japanese lady is.

Her nickname is “Punyomi” . She holds second position of a round the world trip in blog ranking which is one of the biggest ranking in Japan.

So, she joined us. But guess what?

We are the first position of blog ranking. We are the champions! Oh yeah! Bring it on Punyomi!

Another day in Twitter, we declared our annual event which means “Libero- Jump”in front of the Iguazu Fall. And then we did it. Here is evidence photo.

Does Ken have a fear of height ? He seems like ….frighten!

We found a boat going directly under the waterfall.

So, we took a boat and visited to one of the world's third largest waterfall.

Then, we rushed into the Iguazu Falls the world heritage!

This is the boat that we took.

Today is such a nice day! We still had enough strength and smile in reserve with composure.

But our condition had taken a sudden turn for the worse！Σ(゜д゜;)

The boat was sinking like “Titanic”

We couldn't open eyes.

Some how Atsushi was very happy…I don’t know why.

If you wish, you are welcome to see our Youtube Clip which we filmed by waterproof camera. If you are great kid, please don’t use regular camera to the water. You ganna break it : )

Anyway, please enjoy our Youtube Clip.

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Dreaming of Japan reaching the world cup trophy.

Como Estas! This is Ken!
It means "How are you?" and is an informal way.


We went to the Centenario Stadium, which was our main goal of our visiting Uruguay.
"Centenario" indicates the 100th anniversary as a nation.


Did you know that the first World Cup was held at this stadium?

The stadium was established in 1930 and is still working. LOL.

I'm very happy being in the ancient and honorable stadium, wearing the Samurai Blue jersey!!

Look! These are the newest models!

They've been presented in November 2009. As we were not in Japan at that time, one of the soccer shops SCUDETTO, thankfully, shipped them all the way down to this place. 

World Football Shop SCUDETTO

This shop is in front of Shin-Yokohama-eki Station. At this shop, not only jersey of Yokohama Marinos or the Japanese national team but also ones of other foreign countries' club or national teams are available. Furthermore, you can get vintage jersey of historical Japanese teams.

Look at the number "2010" made up by both of us.

Also, we're thankful to another company Tamakeri.com, who organizes events of futsal or beach soccer. Thank you very much.

Centenario Stadium can accommodate 80,000 people. 
It's seemingly a normal stadium.


But I found there is a moat behind the goal.

The blown-colored water. You'll be dead if you fall in there. 

It seems the moan is set to prevent excited supporters from rushing into the filed.


There is a museum inside the stadium.

The entrance fee is 370 peso.

By the way, do you know who won the first World Cup?


Surprisingly, it's Uruguay!

Uruguay won again in Brazil 1950.

Decades ago, Uruguay used to be a powerful country in terms both of economy and soccer.


The current head coach of South Africa is lamenting that they are in the same group as France or Uruguay, which are the former champions, in 2010 World Cup.

The ball used in 1930.

Also, the jersey or boots used at that time are displayed. 
They reminded me of the affluence of material needs of our modern society.
Kids in Japan will be given whatever they want.


When I was a child, I didn't know how to play goal keeper as it was the time I quit baseball to play soccer. So I used to play goal keeper with cotton work gloves.


After that, Uruguay won Copa America, which is corresponding to Asian Cup in Asia, many times.

This is the champion squad in Copa America 1995.

The jersey they're wearing looks like the ones worn by Thoko Gakuen High School Football Club, which I graduated from.

By the way, the Japanese national team was invited to Copa America in 1999 as a guest team. They are also to participate in 2011 at Argentina.

Back to the main story, I saw the world cup, too.

When I say the world cup, it refers to two cups. The first one is also known as Jules Rimet Cup, whose name had been used until the current model was created.

The left is the Jules Rimet cup. The other is the current world cup.

The world cup was taken when we visited FIFA headquarters in Switzerland. 

The Jules Rimet Trophy was replacement. The real one has been stolen in 1983, although Brazil was supposed to keep it in perpetuity after they won the World Cup for the third time in 1970.


I'm just wondering when the Japanese team reaches this trophy.





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Need to be as quick as Messi and Maradona!

Vamos! This is Ken!

Vamos is "let's go" in Spanish. Some Japanese might be familiar with this expression as it is used in Japanese supporters songs.

Yesterday, in an Argentina seaside resort Mar del plata, we met the president of Boca Juniors FC and the mayor of Buenos Aires. Today, we also met another big name.

His name is Oscar Alfredo Ruggeri. 

He used to play for Boca or River Plate.

During his career he represented his country in three World Cups, captaining Argentina in the final two games of the 1994 competition, after Diego Maradona was expelled from the tournament.

Ruggeri is one of the most successful defenders ever to come out of Argentina.

Why were there so many soccer people in Mar del Plata?

Because it is a seaside house for soccer fans!

Look at the number 12! 

It indicates the number of supporters (12th players).

The facility is complete with a swimming pool, shower, and accommodation.

I wish this kind of facility were in Eno-Shima, which is one of the famous seaside resorts in Japan.

Inside the house, many soccer jersey, which has former notable soccer players'  autographs on them, were displayed. 

In addition, there are futsal field,too.

The scenery from a cafe located on top of the building.

The futsal field is just behind the swimming pool.

 People gathered to watch former professionals playing.

It's rare for us normal people to kick the ball with famous people in my country, although entrance fee is required.

After that, we went to watch a game of Mal del Plata Cup, which commenced this year.

The game was the de facto final Estudiantes vs Boca Juniors FC!!

Estudiantes is the team that was edge pasted by FC Barcelona at the last FIFA Club World Cup last year.

Boca, on the other hand, has not had a good season for a while. 

But they're very well known in Japan and still the best team in Argentina. 

A Japanese soccer player Takahara used to play for them.

Anyway, the game was held in Mar del Plata as everyone came to here for holidays.

The tickets were for front seats. They cost 100 peso. 

Since our host father was a big fan of Estudiantes, we're also rooting for them.

Atsushi with a couple supporting Estudiantes.

The stadium was used in 1978 World Cup and looked very old.


Many graffiti were on the wall of the stadium.
One of them looked Japanese characters.

It's outstanding, isn't it?

It's a pre season cup, so some seats were empty. 

But the supporters of the two teams in back side of the both goals were so excited.

The use of warming flare gets the crowd excited.

What a huge flag for Boca!!

As for the game result, Estudiantes dominated the ball possession and beat Boca 4-1! That's just what I've expected the second best team in the world!


By the way, Veron had great presence in the game.

His every single passing was just impressing. 

This game reminds me of other Argentina soccer players such as Messi or Maradona. My theory is that their stop-and-go moves is originated in the life style of South American people.


That is, the strikers from South America don't like hard-works like chasing the ball all the time during a game as Japanese strikers do. 

But they never miss the crucial moment to score a goal.

I heard that Argentine tend to spend the half days of January on vacation in resorts.

Also, they change the lifestyle while they're in holidays. Everyone stay up late, including children.

I think they are good at changing their minds quickly.
In other words, they like "stop-and-go!"


We Japanese tend to work too much even in weekend. 
That's why they have to worry about their jobs at all times.
It might result in making them sluggish in refreshing.


Our strong point is that we have stamina enough to work for long.
But, at the same time, we might be just wasting time.


This notion might help Japanese national team as well as Japanese society by any chance.









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Welcome to Easter Island !

C'omo est'a? This is Atsushi.

We,” Libero”, have landed on Easter Island!

It takes about 5 hours and half to get here

by a westbound plane from Santiago, the capital of Chile.

That island belongs to Chile, so we can take a domestic line for it.

I wonder why they named it “Easter” island, though it's located WESTbound from Chile.

I heard a European found it on an Easter Day, so that came after the fact.

Anyway, we did "Libero Jumping" in front of Moais, which are in Tahai village near our staying hotel.

It’s a cool situation except for the look of the sky…

We will try it once again.

In my blog, the picture of our best scene is posted.

And we needed to jump again and again.

So many awkward shots before the best as below.

Tourists are prohibited to enter around Moai, while some authorized workers are allowed to do so for mowing. Thanks a lot.

I wish I'd be closer to them for helping the workers.

The head of Moai has been left nearby.

For reference, Easter Island is located westbound about 3,700km far from Santiago and also eastbound about 4,000km, the South Pacific.

While it’s called “A solitary island in the distant ocean“, Internet service is available there.

It’s very difficult to post moving videos on my blog due to poor line speed.

That reminds me of how innovated and convenient our modern life is.

We are going to stay here for five days and show you a lot of stories on this island.

By a rent-a-car, we’ll go sightseeing for 3 days from tomorrow !