Soccer ball makes children in South Africa happy!!

Hello, this is Atsushi.

Watching two quarterfinals at the stadium, I am gradually getting over the fact that Japan has lost the game. 

Thank you for a lot of encouragement. 

Although the Japanese national team won’t play anymore, the World Cup is still going on. 

So, switching our moods, we will keep writing in South Africa.

The day after the game of Japan against Paraguay, I visited a primary school in a township, the Diepsloot region in the suburbs of Johannesburg. 

Township is a district where black people used to live during the apartheid era.

The purpose of this visit is to give soccer balls to underprivileged children.

For those not familiar with this charity, I will explain a little more detail about what we have done so far.

With a catch-phrase “Football Unites the World”, we sell Libero original T-shirts as charity. 500 yen from every T-shirt sale goes to the charity funds to buy soccer balls for underprivileged children in Latin America and Africa. 

We’ve already given soccer balls to children in Paraguay, Algeria and Thailand. 

Due to safety issues, it is fairly difficult to find the places to do charity in South Africa. Even though Libero enjoy going to wherever we want, we are not brave enough to drop at a primary school in South Africa at random. We asked a local Japanese resident to introduce a staff member working at Education Ministry, who introduced a primary school teacher to us.

Then, it happened to be the day after the match of Japan against Paraguay. I was by no means in a mood of visiting them, but I had to go. It would be offensive to say, “Please rearrange the date because we still remain deep in the shock of the loss yesterday.

Ken stayed home because he was sick. Instead, I was accompanied by a newspaper journalist who was interested in this charity.

Since the primary school is located in a township, 

we had no choice but to pass by rough areas.  

The newspaper journalist was secretly taking pictures with great cautions, as even taking a picture out of the car window itself could be very dangerous. 

Those walking along the street were all black people. No white people or Asians were there. It’s been a long time since I felt so nervous in a car.

Anyhow, we managed to reach the primary school.

 Diepsloot West Primary School

Compared to the old houses in the neighborhood, this primary school looked really good, as may be expected of public school.

I guess they have just built the school buildings. 

They looked quite new.

School is on a winter vacation now. Children were playing football in the courtyard as a holiday program, with teachers working as referees.

You can see the houses in township all around behind the courtyard.

I greeted the teacher I had contacted before, asking him to gather children.

I brought five soccer balls I had bought at shopping center before.

I asked these children in English if they knew which country this blue uniform represented. They energetically answered all at once, “Japan!!”.

Before the start of World Cup, local people didn’t know well about Japanese national team. I was even asked by a cashier at a supermarket, “Where are you from? Japan? Well, is Japan in the World Cup?” But now, many people, seeing this blue uniform, speak to me, saying “Japan, Japan”

So, I realized again that Japanese national team had achieved a great thing. Enormous is the impact of advancing to the final 16.

I was surrounded by children eager to play football.

The newspaper journalist wanted to take a photo with me handing a soccer ball over the children.

 500 yen from each T-shirt sale has led to smile of these children.

A teacher said, “Quite a few children growing up in a poor family are led into delinquency. If they have something they can commit themselves to, such as football, they should get on the right track. Thank you for helping us to organize such environment.

Finally, we took a group photo.

I showed them the Japanese way of taking a picture: “Piece!!”

I hope one of them will become a national team member of South Africa in the future.

The article of this charity appeared on the local news section in evening edition of Nihon Keizai Shimbun on July 3rd.

The headline is “Passing soccer balls to children in South Africa. Japanese supporters keep mingling with local people”. This article was covered extensively with a picture.  Since this is the past newspaper, it may be impossible to get it in the store. But if you happen to subscribe the evening version of Nihon Keizai Shimbun, please take a look.

Anyway, as a part of this charity, Ken visited Bangkok in Thailand last May. Ken gave the collected donation to Yutaka Aihara, who is in charge of organizing soccer school for children in Bangkok. This donation was used for making training bibs. He sent us some of the pictures.

 Middle: Yutaka Aihara, who organizes soccer school in Bangkok.

 You can see the catch-phrase of this charity: “Football Unites the World”.

You can also see the letters in Japanese above the uniform number, which means “traveling all over the world with football” in Japanese.

If you agree with the idea of this charity, please purchase this T-shirt through the URL below.

About purchase of T-shirts: http://www.libero2010.net/store

If you're inconvenient with the language, please e-mail us directly.

They are worth buying as a reminder of this 2010 South Africa World Cup, as the national flags of 32 countries which joined the World Cup are printed on the front of this T-shirt.

In this journey, this is the last opportunity for us to give soccer balls to underprivileged children. However, we will have chance to travel overseas in the future, where we continue this kind of charity.

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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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No future, no past. Not lost.

Hi, all.


I don't know what to say.


I've spent two nights since the lost game against Paraguay.
But still can't accept the reality.


It's true that the World Cup has not finished yet nor my life.
But our national team has lost.


I'm not in the mood of talking about the future.


Their defeated left a great void in my life.
I don't know how to overcome it.


I spent the whole 2 years on this round-the-world journey, which includes the 
preliminary period for the trip.


My public statement is that our trip to 32 countries would enrich and dramatize the viewers' recognition toward those countries.


But I've always concerned with Japanese national team.


Now that I lost it. 
That indicates "the end" of our journey, although it's still 10 days to go to the end of the comp.


During our trip, my fellow Japanese supporters would cheer me up whenever I felt down after the defeated games.


Just give me a while to get over this.


Now I can't feel to say "OK, let's get into the business! Today I will show you some pics of beauties from the game against Paraguay."


Thank you for your understanding.




Regards,
Atsushi.

Libero’s Lucky Costumes

Hi! Ken here.

I got a high fever of 39.5℃　here in Johannesburg where the altitude is 1500m and it is hard to even boil water. 

Finally my temperature went down to normal yesterday, and I am getting ready for the Japan vs. Paraguay game tomorrow.

But I am still a bit under the weather, so I am resting at home today.

I ended up never finding out whether I have the flu or the measles.
Even though my temperature went down, it’s not something that heals quickly.

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging messages!


Now, I’m going to show you my three treasured costumes.
With these lucky charms, Japan can beat Paraguay.

First of all, here is my familiar samurai armor, which I am wearing in the picture of the main page of this blog.

I think that most Japanese supporters have seen it on the blog or on TV.

This is what is looks like before I put it on.

It’s plastic, so it’s lighter than you may think.

This samurai armor was made for us (Libero) by Tsun-san who is the head of the “Samurai Topknot Supporters” who was at the Olympics in Bejiing to cheer on Japan. 

He brought the armor to South Africa for us from Japan!

I’ve heard that Tsun-san has not only been on TV in South Africa, but has also appeared on some Japanese infotainment shows. Great job!

On the right side of the chest is “Baka-tono”, 

a character from a very famous Japanese comedy show.

On the left side is the JFA (Japan Football Association) emblem.

Did you know that it is pretty hard to put on?

I’ve worn this twice, and Japan has won both times!

(*I didn’t wear it to the Japan vs. Netherlands game in Durban, because it
was too far away from our “home” to wear it.)

So, I am going to wear it to the Japan vs. Paraguay game in Pretoria.
I will do whatever it takes to win the game!

Here’s my next costume:

The “Score Prediction Hat”!

I heard it was shown quite often on TV in Japan too.
I wore the “Score Prediction Hat” showing 3-0 to the Japan vs. Cameroon game…and Japan won 1-0.

Being humble, I wore the hat with 1-0 to the Japan vs. Netherlands game, and Japan ended up losing by that score.

At the Japan vs. Denmark game, the prediction was 3-0, and if the Dutch didn’t score that PK, it would have been right on.

So, the hat stays at 3-0 for the Japan vs. Paraguay game.
I will do whatever it takes to win the game!

And last but not least…
This t-shirt is what I wear under my samurai armor and Japan national team uniform.

A HONDA t-shirt.

I tried to take a cool picture of me wearing this shirt, but look, I am wearing slippers! I guess I still must be feeling a little under the weather.

I bought it from a Japanese website before going to see Honda play in the Russian football league.

I’m going to bring these three costumes to the game.
I’m going to get my health up to par as much as possible and then head off to the battlefield.

Wish me luck! Wish Japan luck!

We assume that Japan will win, so I’ve put Spain and Portugal flags on my hat.

Finally, before I go, I’ve got a favor to ask all of you. Put on something blue, anything blue, and cheer for Japan!

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Miss World Cup: Spain vs Chili

Hello. This is Atsushi.


I watched the game Spain vs Chili on 25th June at Pretoria.


As I mentioned before, my boddy Ken downed. 
So I took to the field with another Samurai.

Now, I'll show some Latina beautiful women from Spain and Chili!

Latina women like to dance to "WAKA WAKA" the FIFA official song.

I guess there are more Chili supporter than Spanish at the stadium.

We're both throwing a deuces.

These are very energetic kids.

Their faces are completely painted.

This is the 10th memorial game I've seen in South Africa.

15 days have passed since the commencement of the comp. On average, we've watched two games per three days. What a overburdened schedule.

For this reason, Ken and I have fallen sick.

As a proverb goes, "He that wants health wants all."

I will take care of my body, too.

I saw some Japanese supporters.

One of them was wearing this.

Look at the emblem.

The date and place are embedded.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the game Japan vs Denmark is the best game in the past our World Cup history. I think this blue jersey become a treasure for him!

The crowd in the stadium saw me wearing blue jersey and said, "Congratulations!" many times.

They plastered me with praise saying, "Well done!!" or "Fantastic free kick!!"

I'm really happy about being on the victorious side!

Anyway, looking after our bodies, we cancelled the trip to Durban and decided to rest up till the next Samurai's game against Paraguay on this Tuesday!!

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Miss World Cup!: Japan vs Denmark

Ayoba! This is Atsushi.
Ayoba is "good" in the local language in South Africa.


First, let me show down the film from the last Samurai's game against Denmark!


This must be a historical game ever!
We supporters got so excited about their winning!
Take a look at it!!

Now let's get into business!


On my way, we met white women painting their faces.

They are from South Africa.

They were really friendly and painted my face, too.


The next woman is a supporter of Denmark.

I'm wearing a Danish wig.

It's hard to tell which side she's in. 

I took some pictures of Japanese women. 
But they don't like being posted here. Unlucky.


By the way, my partner Ken downed after the game.
He caused high fever (39 ℃).


I'm afraid he's not back by the next game against Paraguay.


Please cheer him up!






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