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Things Japanese - Soccer World Cup 2002 - Part 1, Part 2

The biggest sporting event in Japan's history was the 1964 Olympic games, which brought Japan to the attention of the world and for which the Shinkansen was especially built and debuted the first use of computers to keep results. It was reported to be the most expensive Olympics ever (at the time) with $3 billion spent to put Japan on the world map. Since then, aside from the Winter Olympics in Nagano in 1998, Japan has not held a sporting event to match this. This will all change next June when the biggest sporting event in the world is co-hosted by Japan and South Korea.

The 2002 Soccer World Cup will be the first to be held in Asia and the first to be co-hosted by two countries. Many people were surprised when the announcement was made by FIFA in 1996 that the competition would be hosted jointly by two countries who have a turbulent history. Both countries were unhappy at the decision - South Korea felt that he had shown, by hosting the Summer Olympics in 1988 that it could stage the World Cup by itself and Japan, through the successful launch of the J-League in Japan, thought it had the infrastructure to also host the competition on it's own.

Japan and South Korea fought a bitter campaign to host World Cup 2002 with each nation accusing the other of bribery and underhand tactics - amongst other things. Since then, relations between the two hosts had steadily improved until July this year when the issue of a new controversial school textbook authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Education. The issue centered around Japanese colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945 with the school texts perceived to distort history and attempt to gloss over Japan?fs wartime atrocities. Co-hosting has led, up to now at least, to a gradual liberalization of the ban in South Korea on Japanese contemporary culture and there has also been a significant increase in the number of visitors between the two countries.

Both Japan and Korea's professional soccer leagues are relatively young compared to many other soccer playing nations. The J-League officially began on 15 May 1993 with ten teams. Football has been a different ball game to what many people are used to in other soccer playing nations. There used to be no draws. Matches went to "sudden-death" (golden-goal) extra time and penalties. This experiment continued for some years, until penalties were dropped and draws were allowed. But perhaps the most noticeable difference, which was demonstrated during Japan's exploits in the 1998 World Cup, is the enthusiasm of the fans. Huge flags, organised chanting and singing, and the large number of women attending have become features of the professional game in Japan. Indeed much of the marketing in the early days of the J-League was specifically aimed at getting women interested in the sport.

The drafting of world class, world renowned players to the J-League helped to raise it's profile. Players such as Zico and Gary Lineker as well as many other younger players still at the peak of their careers, the best example being Dunga playing for Jubilo Iwata while still captain of Brazil. Among the aging stars who have played in the J-League have been Hristo Stoichkov, Pierre Littbarski, Julio Salinas, Andoni Goicoechea and Salvatore Schillaci. Japan's players are also starting to make an impression in leagues abroad. There are now 3 players in the English premier league, one in the Dutch first division and others in Italy, Spain and Brazil. Although the popularity of soccer waned somewhat after it's introduction in 1993, it's popularity has increased as the build up to next year continues. As a team, Japan continue to improve - their appearance in the final of the Confederations cup (which feaured World and European Champions France and Brazil) included victories over Australia, Cameroon and Canada and a draw against Brazil.

Will Japan win the World Cup next year? Probably not - their main aim will be to progress from the initial group stages to the final 16 team knockout round. The teams Japan face in the group stages will obviously effect their chances of getting through to the next round. You can be guaranteed that they (and South Korea) will be given every 'chance' to go through at the draw in Busan, South Korea on December 1st with the 'strong possibility' of both sides being drawn in weak groups. If either team progresses beyond the first stage it will be an achievement. For the rest of the world, it should be a great spectacle, and hopefully some of the Japanese football culture, such as the non-riotous but enthusiastic support, and the large participation of women, will be passed on to the visiting fans. More information on the World Cup, in the lead up to the competition will be detailed in the Newsletter.

External Links:

http://www.2002worldcupkorea.org/eng/index.php3 http://www.jawoc.or.jp/index_e.htm http://www.fifa.com http://www.soccerphile.com/html/ho/ho.html http://www.soccernet.com http://www.2002japan.co.uk

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