Japan in the UK - and Liverpool Football Club in Tokyo!

In the month of July, I was lucky enough to escape the Tokyo heat and travel to two much cooler destinations - the UK and to Belgium. In the UK, it was interesting to see the growing Japanese influence, especially in food: Itsu noodles (including ramen, katsu, and miso flavours), miniature sushi lunchboxes, and iced matcha are everywhere - and the restaurant chain Wagamama has become almost a national institution (even if no-one knows the word means "selfish" in Japanese!). But influence is not limited to food - the Ghibli classic My Neighbour Tottoro  was being performed in the West End at the Gillian Lynne Theatre by none other than the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)! 

As for Belgium, I really enjoyed watching the Japan National Team play in the 6th IQA (International Quadball Association) World Cup in Tubize, competing against thirty other nations. As I have written before, Quadball is the real life manifestation of the fictional Harry Potter sport Quidditch and Japan has a thriving - and very diverse and inclusive - Quadball scene. The Japanese squad did incredibly well - coming 12th overall - and garnered widespread support, even from the French fans (they played the French twice, narrowly losing both times!). This article gives the final rankings plus lots of data analysis, reporting that, "Japan is now the most beloved team on the international quadball stage"!

British Prof (left) with some of the Japanese Quadball team's many admirers

(c) Japan Football Association

Talking of sport, I got back to Japan in time to see my favourite Premier Football team Liverpool take on Yokohama Marinos in Tokyo. Baseball has long been the most popular spectator - and unofficial national - sport in Japan, but the popularity of football has skyrocketed since the establishment of the J-League in 1993. This site gives football as the third favourite sport in Japan (at 25.0%) narrowly behind sumo at 27.3% but in terms of TV viewing it is second. Interestingly, the men’s national team is known as the Samurai Blue, and the women’s national team is known as the Nadeshiko (撫子) after a Japanese flower, although the term Yamato Nadeshiko refers to the "ideal" Japanese woman, beautiful, virtuous, graceful, modest - and devoted to household duties! Another interesting fact, mentioned in a previous blogpost, is that the giant three-legged Shinto crow-god Yatagarasu (八咫烏) is the Japan Football Association's official emblem. In Japanese mythology, Yatagarasu guided Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan to victory, so it was adopted as a symbol of victory for the emblem.

But on July 30th in Tokyo there weren't many three-legged crows on view - instead it was the Liver bird amid a sea of red shirts in Yokohama for the match between Yokohama F. Marinos and Liverpool (highlights here). It was held at the 72,000 capacity Nissan Stadium as part of the Meiji Yasuda J. League World Challenge 2025 (明治安田Jリーグワールドチャレンジ2025). Tickets were sold out, with the official attendance given as 67,032, setting a new record for the highest attendance ever at a J-League hosted match. As a Liverpool fan, it was spine tingling to see the whole stadium - including the Marinos fans - erupt into a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" (yuruneba in Japanese!). The song was adopted by a different J-League club, FC Tokyo, during the pandemic as a way to connect with fans when they couldn't attend matches in person: the Marinos fans actually sang a Japanese version of the Les Misérables song, "Do you hear the People Sing?" (民衆の歌) which was almost as moving. 

The Liverpool players certainly seemed interested in Japanese culture: after arriving in Japan they enjoyed a morning of meditation at Eko Temple (回向院) in Ryogoku, Tokyo! But Liverpool's connection with Japan goes beyond the presence of Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan's national team, in its squad. Last year, Japan Airlines (JAL) became the club’s official airline partner. Moreover, at a press conference in Tokyo ahead of the game, the LFC Foundation announced a new partnership with The Nippon Foundation (日本財団) aimed at empowering young people. But the longest running collaboration is with Kodansha, one of Japan's largest publishing companies, which has been going since 2021. April saw a new ‘LFC × KODANSHA’ collection that combines football culture with Japan's manga art, featuring illustrations by Japanese artists depicting dramatic scenes and iconic moments from the club's history: check out some of the various hoodies, T-shirts, art prints, keychains, water bottles, and acrylic stands here. LFC and Kodansha even created unique calligraphy inspired shirts produced in collaboration with renowned calligrapher Riu Akizuki for the Yokohama match. Finally, there is a special exhibition running as I write entitled, "Where Impossible Happens" which is inspired by the match known as the miracle of Istanbul (the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final vs. AC Milan). This exhibition features a special original manga by Yasuda Tsuyoshi plus the opportunity to take the final penalty kick in the legendary final! The exhibition runs until August 3rd - check it out here. Football - or Quadball! - fans, feel free to leave a message in the COMMENTS.