05/27 - Farewell and Godspeed

Let's support the team!

Will them to victory like,

Yatagarasu!


Last time the World Cup was on I was in Australia. It is always fun to support a team in the World Cup when you're in that country, but unfortunately, living in Canada that is pretty unlikely. It would be great to support Ireland in Ireland with my family as well, but that hasn't looked too likely in a while, with them not qualifying since 2002, when the World Cup was here in Japan, co-hosted by South Korea. So back in 2010 I decided to get behind the Australian team and get caught up in the excitement around the nation. Unfortunately all that excitement died eight minutes into the tournament for the Australian fans as they conceded the first of four goals to Germany in their opening match. I don't know if it was the case all over the country, but it was noticeable the next day that nobody was as into the tournament anymore.

I'm hoping for a lot more out of supporting Japan in this year's World Cup. There is a lot of buzz around and a lot of products and advertising bearing the Japanese National Football Team Crest. With the tournament getting closer, you see more and more every day. Tonight the team played the first of three warm-up games, which was also their last game on Japanese soil before making their way towards Brazil, via Florida. We went to the pub to watch the game, but it was pretty boring. Japan won 1-0 against Cyprus. The game was followed by a farewell ceremony, including a speech from the team captain. They'll have to play a lot better when the games actually count, but the team does look like it could put in a good showing. There's a lot of optimism and many think it's the best squad Japan has ever had.

Today's poem references supporting the team and Yatagarasu. I asked some students at the University today to teach me the cheer Japanese soccer fans use for the national team, but it was much less elaborate than I expected after hearing the baseball fans. They simply started chanting NIPPON! *Clap, clap clap* NIPPON! *Clap, clap clap. Pretty standard.

Yatagarasu, however, is not standard. Cathal first drew my attention to Yatagarasu when he visited Tokyo a couple weeks ago. I always thought the Japan National Team Crest looked cool. He pointed out how it is a bird, but the bird also has three legs. The birds name is Yatagarasu, and he is a three-legged raven. A lot of Canadian native symbols and mythology involves ravens, and I even play rugby for a club called the Ravens, so I had to do some more research. Turns out in Japanese mythology the character represents some sort of proof of divine intervention in the lives and fates of humans. He is also a God of guidance, responsible for guiding an Emperor in a famous story. Not a bad symbol to carry with you to a big tournament.