Footy season has come!!

Last weekend’s friendly against Gifu took me to the (even colder than Kyoto) Gifu prefecture. I had intended to stay over one night and experience a bit of suburban Japan, but alas there was no sports bar to be had and thus no way to watch the Arsenal game. So I quickly dumped the beautiful countryside of Gifu and headed to the other ‘big city’ Nagoya………which also allowed for a bit of work on ‘Project Doris’ aka lady friend to enjoy Arsenal with.

I returned to the business hotel (alone…) and felt satisfied after a decent win and from the atmosphere of an ‘Irish pub’ with a wonderful cheese platter.

In the morning in my search for brekkie, and trying to break my conveni store cycle of onigiri and a cuppa, I came across one of Nagoya’s morning café culture style establishments. That also happened to be a hang out for grandmothers, chin-wagging their Sunday morning away together over what I can only describe as the most random combination of foods on a breakfast platter I have ever experienced. I have to say it was good though. And like the breakfast, the architecture of the place was as equally a perplexing concoction of Western and Japanese styles. 

After brekkie I headed to the stadium and met up with Ted, where we straightaway tucked into sampling the delights of the stadium grub; I, a locally sourced beef burger, and Ted, a turkey leg. Again, more random food from this area.

The thing that got me most about this trip was seeing a bit more of the passion of Japanese footy fans. Footy still remains the younger sibling of sports here, losing out to the older ugly sister that is baseball, so it was reassuring to see this. Starting in the sports bar, there were three young Japanese lads in full Arsenal wear who had perfected (even down to the north London accent) the chants of the stands at the Emirates. They had never been there, but their commitment to their love had led them to sound like a local through hard and well-rehearsed practice sessions. Of course there were the wonderful devoted Sanga fans, who had braved even colder weather than Kyoto’s harsh winter, to support their love, some so enthusiastic they were topless in the snow. Then out of the blue another example…..Ted buying the other team’s goods! An act of kindness to the poorer side I thought…..no, just for the love of the game he said.