World Cup Scenes from Tokyo

I’m out of the country for this World Cup, but that just gives me a chance to vibe a little with the energy and excitement abroad.

The Japanese National Team have an anime mascot featured in pop-ups around major sites in the city.

My plane landed in Tokyo last Wednesday, and while I wasn’t sure how the national buzz would resonate around the Samurai Blue, aka the Japanese National Team, it didn’t take long before the enthusiasm would become extremely evident.

I could have bought a Japanese national team jersey before leaving the airport, in fact.

That’s really cool.

Before we even got on the plane to Tokyo, we noticed that Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) certainly had a few meager displays up in the gift shops with soccer balls and general World Cup gear. Maybe there were one or two jerseys, but I don’t remember seeing many.

Vancouver International Airport had more buzz with some gear and advertisements around, including in the duty free section. My son grabbed a cold Coke, and inside the label, he came away with a sticker featuring a Colombian World Cup player. Nice.

But in our excursions around Tokyo, there were numerous pop-ups, one at almost every major subway station, featuring a variety of cool items including jersey collabs with brands like Thrasher. The slogans were confident and encouraging - “YOU GOT THIS!” This was national and cultural pride for a team that smart soccer nerds think can make some noise, something they already did with their opening 2-2 come-from-behind draw against Netherlands.

We turned a corner, noticing a crowd gathered for snapshots around an anime character chilling on a soccer ball, with a mural overhead.

More than a few folks, increasingly so with each day of our visit, were wearing their national team jerseys with pride.

I wondered what it might have been like to see a coordinated campaign like this across the States. Maybe there is, and I missed it? Imagine pop-ups in every major city, in every soccer hub. Anyway…

As we wondered through the Shibuya area, with its famous crossing nicknamed the Sibuya Scramble, a mall/garden complete with Taco Bell, Panda Express, skate shop, and more welcomed us with a ground floor Japanese National team shop. They had anime figurines as well as the normal assortment of scarves, banners, flags, keychains, and jerseys for purchase. But first, we hit a World Cup hype event where we enjoyed a photo booth as a family, played a little foosball, and earned stamps by visiting stalls by various sponsors. Those stamps led to swag - free stuff - like fans, stickers, and player cards.

Kind of like a church children festival but for soccer!

My two favorite things - a life-size pitch and wax figure of Japanese National Team head coach Hajime Moriyasu. I pretended to suggest they should score more goals as a winning strategy. And look to the FC Dallas academy for potential national team recruits.

Second best was this Japanese National Team beef curry that my son is going to really enjoy.

Courtesy of some Reddit post since I think my son already ate it.

Of course, this Japanese National Team does have some American roots. Their starting goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, was born in New Jersey. Small world.

I came away with some fun stuff and a scarf to add to my meager collection and a bit more hype for this World Cup.

Will I be getting up at 4 AM to watch the US against Australia? Likely not. That is the downside of being out of the country in a different time zone, but look for a post about watching the South Korea - Mexico match in the heart of Seoul in a couple of days.