Japan vs the Netherlands – what a close game!

Hi! Atsushi here! 

As you all already know, Japan lost to the Netherlands by a narrow margin of 0-1.

Japan put up a great fight, and the game was so close!

After the final whistle was blown, all of us Japan supporters in the stadium were so frustrated, we didn’t know what to do.

After that match, I totally didn’t feel like writing my blog. I was so wiped out and drowned my disappointment with some drinks.

On the bright side of things, the final score of the other Group E game was Denmark 2, Cameroon 1, which means that even if Japan only manages to tie Denmark in the final game of the group stage (June 24), they will make it through to the final 16. So, overall, the close result was important to Japan.

With the chance to make it to the final 16, all of us Japan supporters are gonna leave our disappointment of our loss behind, and think positively about our next game against Denmark.

Anyway, sorry for the delay….hope you understand.

Take a look at all or our pictures from the Japan vs. Holland game.

The game was played in Durban, a resort area of South Africa. Durban is only an hour plane ride from our “home” in Johannesburg. In just one hour, we travelled from the freezing cold of Johannesburg to a sunny 25 degrees, which seemed like paradise to us.

It’s bright and sunny like California!

Today I’m going to the stadium with my supporter

 friends Sho-kun (center) and Ji-tsu(right).

Here I am with the Dutch supporters. 

I’m so excited about the game coming up!

The event space outside of the stadium was full or people dressed in orange!

Durban Stadium, probably the most beautiful 

of all 10 stadiums in the World Cup.

Everyone is hyper excited!

…and even more excited inside the stadium!!!

I’ve heard that you can bungee jump from the top of the stadium, 

which also has an observation area.

The Dutch supporters are known throughout the world as the one of the most unique dressed.

This guy could be in the “Orangeman”show;

Here’s a guy growing Dutch tulips from his helmet.

Japan’s supporters are just as uniquely dressed as the Dutch. 

Look at this Japanese guy with “Licca-chan” dolls on his helmet!

We know this frequent flyer as he travelled with us to Indonesia in 2009 for the Asian Cup. We call this trip “The Miracle of Palembang”. At our stop in Singapore during our travels to the 32 countries competing in the World Cup, we even went to a “maid café” together.

Some local beauties also cheered for Japan. 

See “Miss World Cup” for more!

By the way, did you know that there are a lot of Indian immigrants who live in Durban?

We bumped into a Japanese comedian, Hirabata-san of “Dondokodon”, whom usually we see in the J-league post-game show in Japan

This Japan fan outdid our handmade samurai costumes with his unique outfit!

After finishing our “supporter-watching”, we went up to our seats.

It was almost hot enough to wear bathing suits to the stadium. 

Check out “Miss World Cup” to see the hot girls!

We were so excited and up-beat before the game.

I did my hair in a samurai-like ponytail. 

(Remind you of the Turkish national Ilhan?)

Let’s eat up the Oranges!

A picture for our album with Tsun-san, head of the samurai group.

There must have been about 5000 Japanese supporters, definitely more than those at the Japan vs. Cameroon game.

However there must have been about 20,000 Dutch supporters.

Even a lot of the locals at the stadium were dressed in orange.

Here I am with my “Let’s Travel around the world watching football” flag.

Supporters passed up a huge Japan flag (Hinomaru)

 through the back stands before the game 

As usual, I won’t go into detail about the game.
Now I’m going to focus on Japan’s next game against Denmark.



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