FindJPN blog

Soccer Culture in Japan

Whether it’s the hottest and most searing day of the summer or its freezing outside, walk to a park in Japan and you’ll see kids playing soccer.

Ever since Japan hosted the 2002 world cup, soccer fever in the country has risen steadily to a point where, now, Japan has nurtured players such as Yuuto Nagatomo (25 years old) who plays for Intel or Kagawa Shinji (23 years old) who plays for Manchester united. There are numerous soccer clubs for youngsters all over the country, building more and more momentum for soccer culture in Japan as well as new talented youngsters.

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15 years ago, Japan could barely make it to the World Cup - today, the team is a regular. The women’s national soccer team won the world cup last year. J league – Japan’s professional soccer league – is gaining steady popularity as well.

The league started in 1991; at first, no one went to watch the games. Now, there are tens of thousands of fans gathering each Saturday or Sunday to go watch (Let’s Go Watch a Soccer Game in Osaka!). Fans are becoming attached to their local professional soccer teams – attached enough that they’ll sit through a game even if their team plays poorly.

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National games are a spectacle which the entire country participates in. It’s quite a sight to see and hear 60000 men, women, children, and elders shout in unison, “NIPPON! NIPPON! NIPPON!”

Without fail, I always get an adrenaline rush at these games.

Futsal (Indoor soccer) is huge in the country too. But in Japan, it’s difficult to find a park to play at in urban settings such as Tokyo. So what do the Japanese do? They make futsal courts on the roofs of office buildings. The courts are always, always full of soccer and futsal fanatics. It used to be Japanese baseball that the people were proud of - right now it’s soccer. When will this trend end? I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure: It’s a bandwagon you won’t regret riding.

“NIPPON! NIPPON! NIPPON!”