Anthem

For as long as I can remember, sports have always had a massive influence on my life.

Growing up I was one of those kids who played pretty much every sport going, although you might be surprised to know that tennis was my first love.

I started off by playing indoor or short tennis, and once I got old enough then I started playing outdoors as well. I remember going off to various tournaments in different parts of Yorkshire and also representing the county on a couple of occasions.

At about the age of ten or eleven I started playing football competitively with my friends on the large playing fields that used to be near my house. I'd always come home caked in mud after seemingly endless games of 'World Cup singles' which used to go on beyond the point of where you could see the ball - thankfully I was never the goalkeeper!

When I moved up to secondary school I started playing for a local club as well as for school in pretty much everything else that was going. Whether it was rugby, cricket, badminton or athletics I always wanted to take part, and perhaps that explains years later where I'm passing on my knowledge (or lack thereof) to children of various ages through working as a PE Teacher.

These days I still dedicate my Saturday afternoon's to football, but I still love other things such as golf and running which I regularly do in my spare time.
I was crazy enough to run the Yorkshire Marathon in 2013 and once I return from my travels will begin training for this year's Great North Run which takes place in September.

Off the field, pitch or court I'm also a massive sports fanatic. Just like when I was younger and playing anything that was going, these days I will pretty much watch anything that's on, often getting up in the wee hours to watch Formula One or staying up way after dark to watch the NBA or NHL.
They really are at the heart of everything I do as I also like reading, and even writing about sports. I usually make a point of trying to attend at least one sporting event every month or so - even when I'm on my travels.

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All the travelling clearly took it out of me yesterday as I don't think I stirred even slightly after going to bed last night. I woke up with a bit of a headache and I'm suspecting that it might have had something to do with the awkward positions I was trying to fold myself into yesterday when I was travelling over from Beijing.

I didn't want that to stop my enjoyment of today day though, and after spending a little bit of time this morning arranging plans for further down the line in my Japanese stay I worked out a couple of things that could occupy my time for the duration of the afternoon.

I obviously didn't get to explore much of Yokohama yesterday, but I've started to get a sense now when I'm going to really like somewhere, and I got a strong whiff of that feeling yesterday when I walked up to the bay and watched the sun going down. In the few moments that I did spend in the city, I got the sense that Yokohama is quite a good place to spend time, and from looking at the map I picked up last night, and also from researching on the Internet there seems to be quite a bit to do here. As ever I'm going to have to be amazingly selective about what takes up my time, but I figure that being in the country for quite a while will allow me to spread things out a little as for example if I don't get to do something in one city, then there may be an opportunity to do it elsewhere. I guess that's the good thing about having three weeks to spend here.

As I mentioned a little bit in my post yesterday, I have always wanted to Japan, and I think that meant that this was always going to be the country where I stayed the longest. I'm not sure if it was directly related to my interest in a number of different cities, and I guess I could have done the same in South Korea had I spent a bit more time there as there were quite a lot of places that I'd initially been interested in going to.
The good thing about places like Japan, Korea and China (not that I was able to make use of what I'm going to say because of visa restrictions) but the fact that there are plenty of different ways to get yourself from one place to another in the country is extremely helpful.

I haven't always moved around by plane throughout my journey, as in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines I used the bus, but the journeys I made probably took up half, maybe even a full day by the time I got there and found the hotel. Although there are buses at my disposal here I think that I will do most of my transportation from one city to another using the train, even if it does cost me slightly more. I think it'll be beneficial to help me save time and allows me to do what I actually came to Japan for which is to see things. There is one point when I have to take a plane later in the journey, but that should be the penultimate flight I have to take on this trip.

After Golden Week it was back to work for the nation this morning, and there was a noticeable difference in the amount of people walking through the streets when I went down to the shop to grab some breakfast.
It's always hard to judge things like how busy a city is, because I guess it depends on whereabouts within the city I am.
Generally I tend to stay out of the centre itself, but I never really know when booking places if I am in a heavily resided area or not. Some places it's obviously hard to avoid the amount of people that also need to get from place to place on a daily basis, but I'd say that where I was staying in Beijing made the city look quiet, and I bet that's the first time the Chinese capital has ever been 'accused' of that!

The first destination on my list today was the Nissan Stadium.
One of the things I wanted to do in Japan was see a J-League football match. For me, the country of Korea became an interesting one after the 2002 World Cup, and it was only when I moved there that I became interested in the national league. For a while now I've taken an interest in the Japanese League, and although I haven't spend much, if any, time watching it, for some reason I've always been fascinated with it's teams and it's fans.

The J-League was what I'd like to affectionately call the first 'retirement' league. A bit like how players nowadays move to the MLS or the A-League when their careers are winding down. The Japanese National League was formed as country's first professional league in 1992, and kicked off it's first season a year later.

The Kawashima Antlers won the first domestic title and the first player of note I ever remember playing in the J-League it was Gary Lineker who played for a team called Grampus Eight between 1992 and 1994.
The same club's other famous connection for me is that Arsene Wenger managed there for a season before moving to the mighty Gunners of Arsenal in 1996 - I don't think he's ever looked back!

Today then, I planned to get my first taste of J-League football. I was a little confused and had to cross-check my information on several sites in case the time difference was causing some confusion, but it appeared that there was a full programme of league fixtures today kicking off at 3pm.
I know that baseball regularly starts daytime games both here and across the world, but I'd have thought that they'd make league games start during the evening so that they could be better attended.
I looked it up on the club's official website and couldn't see it ever happening in any other week during the season, but I figured it must be correct if they'd published the time at 3pm.

The local team here at Yokohama F. Marinos, one of the ten original clubs to participate in the first J-League season, although they were then just called the Yokohama Marinos. They're a middling team in the division, but I thought that this might be my one chance to get an authentic game experience so wasn't really bothered about the standard.
Their opponents by the way...... Nagoya Grampus Eight! How strange!

Once again I faced the transport conundrum of how to get there. I don't really know if I can describe how confusing the trains are here, but perhaps if I put up a picture of the train map then you'll be able to see the dilemma I face....

Credit: Yokohamajapan.com

I knew that the closest station to the stadium was Shin-Yokohama (a different Yokohama to the station I arrived at yesterday), but I had the option of being able to get there on three different trains.
As I'd rode the subway yesterday I figured that would be the best way for me to get there so I headed in the direction of what I thought was the station. Pretty close to where I am staying there are two different entrances to what turns out to be two different stations - to get on the subway I didn't actually need either of those two, and needed the third option which was the 'Public Transit System Subway' which was just around the corner.

Shin-Yokohama is about seven stations away on the map from where I'm staying, so actually pretty convenient and when I got there I looked on the exit sign and there was one pointing towards the Nissan Stadium which was very helpful.
Before I continue I must pay tribute to Yokohama and their superb tourists signs, so far they have definitely been as helpful as those in Kuala Lumpur. The exit signs too, as I mentioned briefly yesterday, are pretty awesome and rather than there just being one or two things listed, there's usually about ten or eleven, all written in English, which is very helpful.

As I had done in Busan when I want to watch I'Park play, I was visiting part of the legacy left over from the 2002 World Cup which Japan co-hosted with their near neighbours, Korea. The Nissan Stadium held two significant events during the tournament; One is that it's the site where Japan won their first ever game at a World Cup Finals - not just in 2002, but ever - when they beat Russia 1-0.
Slightly more significantly, of the four games it hosted at the tournament, one of them was the important little matter of the World Cup Final where Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored both goals to help the South Americans win the tournament for the fifth time.

Over time it has held a significant number of matches including those at the FIFA World Club Cup and also the Confederations Cup.
Visiting new stadiums always excites me, but discovering all that information I was pretty delighted that Yokohama happened to be playing a home game when I was in town.

As I exited the station I saw that there were a couple of people wearing shirts and scarves of Yokohama so I instantly knew that the information I'd checked ten times over must be correct.

I continued to follow them, and the signs, until I started to see more people all decked out in dark blue heading towards the stadium which then appeared on the horizon.
With a capacity of 72,000 it can hardly sneak up on you, but I wouldn't say that it stood out from the outside too much. I guess that's partly because landscape around it is so tall too, so it just blends in:

I was surprised by the number of fans milling around outside the ground, but thankfully the queue for a ticket was quite small so I was able to get one for 2,900 Yen (about £17). My ticket was entirely In Japanese, and as in most Asian stadiums that I've been to, there appeared to be no seat assignment so I was hoping that it wasn't too full. Considering all the noise I could hear outside I wasn't surprised to discover that it was relatively busy inside.
All the Yokohama fans were decked in blue at one end, and that stand was completely full. At the other end there were probably at least 500 Nagoya Grampus Eight fans which is pretty significant considering that the game was being played in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday!

I managed to find myself a seat in amongst the bodies, and as usual chose to sit fairly high up so that I could take a more analytical view on the game (I'm such a nerd, this wasn't the Champions League Final or some tactical battle between Benitez and Mourinho) but in modern stadiums I think that the view from pretty much any seat is a decent one:

One strange thing I have to point out is that with the exception I'Park, pretty much every team I've ever been to watch whilst in another country wear similar colours. Don't believe me, well here is the kit of Suwon Bluewings, the team I used to go and watch in Korea......

Credit: footballshirts.co.uk

Compare that with the shirts of Valerenga of Norway.....

Credit: footballshirts.co.uk

If that's not a large enough sample size then have a look at what shirt that Shanghai Shennua wear.....

Credit: footballshirts.co.uk

And then take all that information and contrast it to the home shirt of Yokohama.....

Credit: Worldsoccershop.com

Strange coincidences....

Perhaps in England I should be a Carlisle United fan....

Credit: classic-shirts.com

Comically I have actually seen them play before!!!!

I have to say that not only was I impressed by the number of people who turned up, but I also appreciated the noise they were making.
I don't think I mentioned it in the blog I wrote about the Chinese game I went to watch in Shanghai very much, but the atmosphere there was fantastic with fans singing and jumping up and down passionately all game long.
Here too, the Japanese supporters were getting right behind their team, and the supporters all in blue were in chorus throughout the match which is brilliant, again, for a Wednesday afternoon when they probably should be at work!
One of the worries about Asian fans in the 2002 World Cup was that they were only known to make noise when the ball was in either penalty box, but I think as time has gone on they have become more educated about the game and it shows in the way they had appreciation for good defending, exciting pieces of flair and hard work by the team:

The game started off pretty interestingly as Yokohama had a lot of the ball and scored the opening goal after about twelve minutes or so when their Brazilian striker stuck home a cross from close range following some poor defending from Grampus Eight.
The away side came back into it a bit more, but their chances to win the game were effectively ended a minute before half time when one of their midfielders received a second yellow card for rashly chopping down the striker who scored the Yokohama goal, and that left his side with a mountain to climb:

Yokohama made their advantage tell with a second goal, another tap in after some bad handling by the goalkeeper, and despite their best efforts that was the end of the scoring. They missed several chances, but also allowed Grampus Eight to create a few of their own, although it would have been a harsh result had it not ended with anything other than a Yokohama victory.

At the end of the game, the players did their lap of honour with the usual bowing and arm waving in front of the crowd on each side of the stand, and I was puzzled by the lack of people leaving which was because the guy that scored the opening goal was doing an interview and hadn't walked around with the rest of the team so many people stayed back to applaud him, and his efforts.
After that was done he was presented with the man of the match award and gave an interview in front of the fans which allowed me to sneak down a little closer to pitch level and take some pictures now that empty seats had opened up:

I headed back to the station expecting there to be a massive crush, but I guess considering there are probably an infinite number of trains running on different lines perhaps the amount of people was spread out among them all!

The sun was starting to disappear when I got back and I was tempted to go by the pier again as it was so nice yesterday, but looking at the map when I quickly returned home to change out of my shorts, I saw that there was a nice park on the other side of where I'd stood yesterday that might be nice to walk through.

There were a lot of people enjoying the view out over the water and also admiring the fine display of flowers that were on show there too. Like Korea and Vietnam, I think that Japan puts a lot of effort into its green spaces to contrast all of the high rise buildings and lights that make up the city itself.
I kept walking towards the end of the pier and came across one Yokohama Marine Tower which is shaped light a lighthouse and had just begun to be illuminated:

Sometimes there really is nothing better than strolling through a park and relaxing on an evening. I wish I had more opportunities to do this kind of thing in England, but we generally, especially where I live, don't have these kinds of spaces.

Once I got to the edge of the park I decided to take a slightly different route back to my hotel which took me through Yokohama's China Town which is one of the most prominent in all of Japan.
It was a strange juxtaposition I found myself in walking down the busy and LED illuminated streets of the area, but it was interesting with shops appearing from all different angles selling food and souvenirs.
I'm always fascinated by all things related to China Town and I spent a bit of time wandering around and went into a couple of shops, but I'd certainly have loved to explore every street and see how the experience at night differs to how it does during the day.
I feel like it is certainly very touristy, but it was interesting all the same:

A day of activities had worn me out again so there was just about time to grab some food and come back to my room to start planning what to do with myself tomorrow.

World Cup 2002 Official Anthem
Vangelis (2002)