Hey guys, this AP writer says that the Japanese women's HUGE win over Germany at the Women's World Cup is even bigger than baseball and sumo now!! That's amazing and great to see! The Japanese women put on an UNREAL performance against Germany. One for the ages. Big congrats to them especially with everything that's been going on in Japan. So can any of you guys tell me what's the atmosphere like in Japan over the women's team at the World Cup? http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-wwcup-sweden-japan Any front page links from Japan about the women's team would be nice.
Dude, why do you care so much about these kinds of things? The answer is yes. It was the top story on every single Japanese sports website the day they won. Maruyama's goal was one of the most viewed video in Japan on youtube this week.
Because I know soccer is not the #1 sport in Japan and it's even more rare for women's soccer so it's a very unique and unexpected event. If you got some links from Japan about the women's team that would be nice.
This seems to be a slightly different yahoo version of the same story, here. Apparenly the coach had a slide-show on the tsunami the day before the Germany game. I was wondering where those sliding tackles were coming from. Anyway it is surprising that this has pushed baseball off the first page in Japan. Hope it continues.
Take any preconceived notions you have about football in Japan and throw them away right now. You seem to think that Japan is stuck in some kind of pre-90's mindset. Football is a major sport in Japan stop thinking that it isn't.
I've never attended a L-League match (only J-League). I checked some team sites and tickets cost around 1000 yen for students. Add 100-200 yen for adults.
So the soccer that Real was referring to is not a major sport there, he was right. Just like you, nobody has ever in their life attended a game, even though the tickets are dirt-cheap (free at most clubs by the way). Maybe after this weekend, all that will change. Good luck.
Just because I have never been to a game does not mean that women's football is not a major sport. I personally do not have any interest in women's football yet the only reason why I know about the match is because almost every single sports publication in Japan has printed something about it (as of me typing this every single publication has something about the next match on the front page). Tell me one country where women's football is a "major" sport. I am putting this into perspective. The notion that Japanese people do not care about women's football or football in general (which the op is trying to imply) is not true. I think the way I worded it is probably misleading. When I said "major" I meant that the majority of Japanese people would know about it. And this is true. The OP has asked a similar dumb question like this before. (Check the Asian Cup Final thread) which is why I felt the need to respond to him/her. Also, J-League tickets are a similar price. Even cheaper in some areas (500 yen).
Its the World Cup!! It doesn't matter what country you are or if its women, beating the 2 time defending champion in the knock out stage will get you front page!!
Is it a crime to be curious about how a huge football win affected a nation reeling from it's biggest natural disaster? It's not a dumb question to ask, especially if you're not from Japan and want the sport to get even bigger. I myself find it interesting to look at those news reports showing crowd reactions and even resulting crowd gatherings in Shibuya.
1. Do you need an entirely new thread to ask this? 2. How difficult is it to go to Japanese websites and check? You don't need to know Japanese. Just use google translate or something and look. Most websites even have pics so no reading required. 3. This dude has already asked this ********ing question 3 times, how many times does he/she want an answer? 4. Read Nsato's post. 5. Japan is not the U.S. I don't understand where this perception comes from. People think that since football is not the #1 sport in Japan that people in Japan act like Americans do towards football. I have yet to see a published article that criticizes football for being "soft" or "boring" in Japanese. They're probably out there, but they are not mainstream like some of the ridiculous articles that I see in American newspapers and sports websites.
Normally majority of people in Japan don't care about women football at all and some even don't know it exists! This time, since they made it to the best 4 for the first time it came out on the newspaper but, I bet, before that many people never knew Germany won the world cup in 2 consecutive times and was one of the top teams in women soccer. I bet they also don't know that USA has been on top for long time, and China/NK have been dominant powers in Asia and also one of the stronger side in the world. You should know that only a few are actually getting paid enough to just play football. Most of these girls in JWNT usually has other jobs during day time and given limited time for training. It, by no means, is major sports in Japan just yet but hopefully, they get more attention after the WC and get paid enough
The domestic league may never be popular, but the NT will probably always attract attention because Japanese people love following their national teams because they represent Japan. Women's football is probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular woman's sport. Number one is clearly figure-skating and will be for a long time. 2nd/3rd is between golf and football. But clearly it is not some "fringe" sport in terms of popularity.
Very well said, this is exactly the point. Well I hope it gets even better. I hear there will be an article in www.Goal.com tomorrow (I mean, today in Japan) which gives some detail on the players. Good night from NYC !
Ok I guess my point is that yes, domestic women's football is not a major sport. BUT! The national team draws a lot of attention because it is the NATIONAL TEAM. Japanese people are interested in events where they compete against the world. So a victory against a European country in a World Cup is obviously going to draw a lot of attention in Japan. This is true for pretty much every single sport where a person represents Japan. You can call these people glory-hunters or whatever, but this is true for every single country in the world.
Exactly. What is asked in this thread's title implies a very limited purpose. To generally discuss how popular women's soccer is in Japan or not could be interesting but still, I don't see the point of limiting a phenomenon to one single match and make the thread obsolete after tonight's game.
Dude, even people on the Japan board at Big Soccer have said baseball is far bigger than soccer in Japan and of course Sumo is the official national sport.
WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! Like I said, you have preconceived notions that simply are wrong. Also, sumo is a dying sport. Just because it is a national sport does not mean that it is popular. Sumo will probably obsolete in the next 50 years. I think that thing that pisses me off the most, like scf said, don't start a new ********ing thread for a question that could have been asked in a current thread. Makes you seem oblivious and condescending.
I agree, sumo is on its way out. All those scandals and everything has caused Sumo to be a 2nd rate sport in Japan. It's the age of team sports in Japan, and soccer and baseball are the two big sports.
I hear you have a lot of journalists - they follow the golfers around with sophistictaed cameras. Well I guess they will be headed to Germany now for the Final !