[hanabi]

This article's a little unfair. (But just a little.) It's hard to sustain interest when you couldn't give a flying shitake about the teams that were still playing. When Japan was still in, I don't think anyone could honestly say they weren't enthusiastic about the World Cup.

As for what to do with the large, useless stadiums, how about monster truck racing?

[Ketou]

Interesting Japanese Fact Of The Week
The reason most of Japan's new stadiums were built in the sticks is commonly regarded to be a result of a corrupt construction industry. But did you know that Japan actually built 11 World Cup stadia? Toyota City, in Aichi prefecture, didn't win the bid to become one of the ten tournament hosts but, to the local tax-payer's chagrin, they built a stadium anyway. They hope that Grampus 8 might chose to play some matches there. It's like Wembley in reverse!!

Hmmm now where did I just see that?

Bureaucrats still 'lick the tip of the pencil'

[Steve Bildermann]

Don't Call Japan The Perfect Hosts

Within three hours of the final whistle, you'd have been hard pushed to find any evidence of a World Cup game (let alone the final) having been played in Yokohama.

What a half baked article. Full of inaccuracies.

Was he even at any of the matches? You can easily see that he had some bad experience in Japan (refused service at a Japanese soapland perhaps) so off he goes ranting about how bad the whole Japan World Cup event was and how wonderful the Korean side was. Wonder how much Japanese he speaks?

Pretty typical of british style lo-ball reporting though. His other stuff is just as thin.

I've emailed him this thread.

[tokyojoe]

The article says that they didn`t show the opening ceremonies in Korea on TV. I don`t know what channel he was watching but saw quite a bit of it and was impressed at the show the Koreans put on. And while terrestrial tv may not have every game SkyPerfecTV did air every match. It was a huge selling point for their dishes before the cup began.

The writer`s essential point seems to be that the Japanese were lacking in enthusiasm during the cup. I think that`s a tough call. While the authorities were being dickish about public revelry the average Japanese was really into it. At my company work stopped for each Japan game as the employees gathered in the main meeting room. And I was out in Tokyo after their win over Tunisia and it looked a lot like downtown Seoul.

[Steve Bildermann]

[Steve Bildermann]

I like the way you apologists make Japanese fluency seem like the most important thing in understanding Japan.

I am going to have this sentence framed. It truly stands as a classic and needs no further embellishment from me, poor apologist that I am.

See I told you ultra you were wasting your time with those damn Nihongo lessons. Don't need em!

[Steve Bildermann]

As for my other stuff - that's the first bad word I've heard against it.

Being from SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND <loud voice> myself I've seen this type of excuse made so many times.

- Waiter this food is cold
Well nobody else has complained.

- It's too big, small. expensive etc
Really, Everbody else likes it.

and so on.

[Steve Bildermann]