Never forget Samurai's Spirits!!

It's been a while, guys! This is Ken.


Five days have passed since the game against Paraguay.
We're finally getting ourself under control.


So, I'd like to review the game today.
In order to cheer you up, I'll post some beauties' pictures,too!


On that day, we arrived at Loftus Versfelt Stadium in Pretoria 3 hours before the game!


I've recovered from the cold that I caught right after the game against Denmakk and put on a mask just in case.

Ayaya, who lives together with us, is in the left.

Gan-San is in the right.

Around the venue, I was really surprised by a number of non-Japanese supporters of Japan.


In the last three preliminary matches, I saw a few non-Japanese supporters.
But, I guess the number has increased sharply today!

The young people're wearing Judo costumes.

We couldn't understand the weird Japanese characters they put on their backs.


I don't think Japanese national team played elegantly in the preliminary matches.


But the fact that Japan won has increased the number of Japanese supporters.
That reminded us of the importance of winning as a sport game.


Look. Besides us, the people made their own Samurai armors!

I guess this guy's appearance seems to be far from a Samurai. 

But who cares?

The painting of Japanese characters on his head might have been done by a Japanese. It's so natural!

As usual, we've never stop finding beauties!!

She is a campaign girl for Hyundai, which is one of the sponsors.

A Latin beauty wearing a Paraguay jersey. 

Here we go! She is the representative of our country!

This hot Japanese woman's name is Yuko Watanabe.

Her Japanese blog is here.

They're also Japanese supporters. 

We met them at Japan vs. Denmark game, too.

These cute girls are also indispensable to the festival!

This match flag was designed by Katsuhiko Hibino, who is a very famous artist in Japan. Katsuhiko is also known as a big soccer fan.

Wish Japan could have made it to the quarter final.

Now that Japanese Honda has become a world-well known player.

She is an Russian beauty cheering for us!

Wow, the Japanese flag looks happy!

Another sexy representative of Japan!

Not only the beauties but also many non-Japanese people were rooting for Japan from the bottom of their hearts, chanting "Nippon! Nippon!".

This is totally unusual situation, isn't it?

I've seen many games of Japanese national team in foreign soils. 

But I've never experienced cheering for them with such a lot of local people!

When I watched Beijing Olympic, most of the Chinese people turned against us because of our historical relationship. I was so sad.

Throughout the 4 games, Japanese supporters made an great effort to be accepted in the local people. 

I think Japanese national team's achievement is not the only reason for it.

In that sense, we Japanese supporters also learned a lot from this World Cup.

So, I still wish Japan had made advance to the quarter final because that would have made a much stronger impression to the local people.

As for the game, we Japanese supporters gathered around the back side seats on the first floor.

Our cheering must have reached the Japanese players during the game.

In a Japan's attacking, Nagatomo, a Japanese defender, gestured us to make more noise during the game.

It brought us a feeling of unity with the players!

It's Okada Flag, which is put up before the game.

It is what it looks like under the flag.

During the preliminary rounds, we Japanese supporters were separated into many groups. But at this time, they became a unit!

We held each other round the shoulders to sing the national anthem of Japan and to cheering the penalty shooting out.

In the extra playing time, they made a circle including all the staffs.

After all, our dream of making into quarter final didn't come true.

A lot of supporters were crying over the shocking defeat after the penalty kick.

But we're proud of our national team's hard working.

That's why we were connected emotionally to them.

At the same time, I've been filled with a sense of loss as we're no longer a participant of the festival.

In a moment of cool-headed, rational thought, I realize that the Japan's defeat deserve it.

It is true that I wanted to see them against Spain, but it's also the fact that Japan was not good enough to overcome Paraguay.

Considering the fact that Japanese team has been welcomed by the public in spite of the coach's reckless goal setting, which was to make it into semi final, and they ended up in the knock out round, we might have realize the reality of our national team. That is, Japan was not capable of achieving the goal.

However, everyone must agree that they made their 100 percent efforts enough to touch the people.

The players also must have learned that more supporters would come to stadiums if they play in the same manner in J League, too.

Our nation's challenge has finished, but the World Cup still continues.

Strong sides such as Brazil or Argentina have lost at the quarter finals.

This means it's so tough even for them to make into the semi final.

Although German, which has a strong team tactic, doesn't have star players, they're playing in semi final.

I think Japan could learn something from them in one or another.

The festival will continue.

It's a week away to the final.

So, we still gonna have a great time here in south Africa!

We will enjoy this festival from 32 different perspectives!!

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