JuneNewsletter 2010 Greetings fellow Jet Alum and welcome to the fi rst offi cial JETAA SA newsletter of the year! I apologise for it being somewhat late in coming – 2010, as many of you have probablyobably yourselvesyourselves experienced, has certainly been an action packed year already, and with all the ‘gees’gees’ ofof the World Cup bubbling up across the country, it has been hard not to join in all the excitementitement and leave the hard work for another day! The JETAA SA exec has been busy creating a new group Facebook page though,h, and we are hoping that as our following on the page grows, we will be able too communicate with all of you much better through that medium. So, if you haven’t already joined, PLEASE look us up at JETAA South Africa and join the group. We would love to see your Japan photos, hear about your Jet experiences and what you’re up to now, so post something on our wall and let’s get re-connecting! With the offi cial kick-off of the World Cup almost upon us, all of the foreign teams havee already started jetting into the country, including the Japanese national football team! I, for one, am extremely excited to watch them play against the Netherlands in Durban nextnext week, and while I know all of you will be waving your South African fl ags proudly, there’sere’s no reason why you can’t wave a Hinomaru fl ag in the other hand too! With that in mind,ind, we have dedicated the entire newsletter to interesting facts and titbits to get you betteretter acquainted with the Japanese side before they grace our stadiums this month. It is here! Enjoy the ride! Nicky The Samurai Blue In Japan, the Japanese National Football team is know as Soccer Nippon Daihy or Nippon Daihy , although recently it has been given the nickname ‘The Samurai Blue’, most probably due to the blue and white colours that they play in. They achieved their highest FIFA World Ranking in 1998 when they were listed as 9th in the world; and are currently ranked 45th in the world heading into the World Cup Tournament. Coached by Takeshi Okada (who was the team’s manager during the 1998 FIFA World Cup), Japan boasts one of the most successful soccer teams in Asia, having qualifi ed for the lastst fourfour FIFA World Cups, and winning the AFC Asian Cup three times. Past World Cup Appearanceses Japan fi rst entered the FIFA World Cup in 1998 when they were knocked out in the fi rst round. They hadad their best everever showing during the following tournament (when they were co-hosts with South Korea) by making it to the top 16 pportionortion of the tournament. They eventually placed ninth overall. In Germany in 2006, they were once again knocked out in the fi rst round, but have hopes of progressing further during the 2010 event. 2010 FIFA World Cup Japanese FIFA World Cup Team Team No. Name Age Caps Goals Goal Keepers 1 Seigo Narazaki 34 76 0 21 Eiji Kawashima 27 8 0 23 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (C) 33 116 0 Defenders The captain of the current World Cup Squad, Yoshikatsu 3Yūichi Komano 28 52 0 Kawaguchi, also boasts the most caps in the team (116), 4 Marcus Tulio Tanaka 29 37 7 and the second most caps overall of any Japanese player, 5 Yuto Nagatomo 23 24 3 after Masami Ihara with 122. 6 Atsuto Uchida 22 31 1 Defender, Yuji Nakazawa, is not only the second most 13 Daiki Iwamasa 28 2 0 capped player after the captain, with 103 appearances, but 15 Yasuyuki Konno 27 35 0 he is also the second highest goal scorer on the Japanese 22 Yuji Nakazawa 32 103 17 World Cup team, with no less than 17 goals under his belt. Midfi elders He is known as the “Bomber” due to his distinctive hairstyle 2 Yuki Abe 28 43 3 and is one of only three Japanese players to reach 100 caps 7 Yasuhito Endō 30 92 8 for the national side. He reached this milestone earlier this 8 Daisuke Matsui 29 22 1 year in a game against South Korea. 10 Shunsuke Nakamura 31 96 24 Goal keeper Seigo Narazaki has played in the last three 14 Kengo Nakamura 29 46 5 consecutive FIFA World Cups, and with his selection into the 17 Makoto Hasebe 26 29 1 2010 squad he becomes one of only two Japanese players 18 Keisuke Honda 23 13 4 (the other being Captain Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi – also a 20 Junichi Inamoto 30 79 5 goalkeeper) to have participated in four consecutive World Forwards Cup tournaments. 9 Shinji Okazaki 24 26 16 Marcus Tulio Tanaka is the only gaijin on the team, 11 Keiji Tamada 30 68 16 although he now has Japanese citizenship. He was born in 12 Kisho Yano 26 18 2 Brazil to a Japanese-Brazilian father and an Italian-Brazilian 16 Yoshito Okubo 27 47 5 mother but moved to Japan when he was 15. Last year in a 19 Takayuki Morimoto 22 4 1 World Cup warm up match against England, he managed toto edgeeedg one past thehe goalkeeper,goalkeeppeer, butbutut thethe elationelatio was shortlived as he scored ann own goalgoall againstagagainst hishis own team later in the match! He did the sameame thing in a match against Côte d’Ivoire earlier this month andnd wawas also responsible for injuring Didier Drogba’s elbow. He has great technical skills but seems to be something of a wildcard. The top goal scorer on the team is Shunsuke Nakamura with an impressive 24 goals in 96 appearances. He is currently 6th on the overall count of Japanese top scorers but the country holds high hopes that the midfi elder will add a couple more goals to his tally during the tournament. In 2006, he became the fi rst Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League and also has an asteroid of all things named after him! Possibly Japan’s most popular player, he is the team’s equivalent of Ronaldo or Kaka. Atsuto Uchida is the youngest player on the current squad at age 22. In 2008, he became the fi rst teenage Japanese soccer player to play in a FIFA World Cup qualifi er (against Thailand) and later that year (after scoring against Bahrain) he became the youngest Japanese goalscorer (at 20 years and 87 days) in FIFA World Cup qualifi cation. Talented midfi elder Yasuhito Endo was named “Player of the Year” by the Asian Football Confederation in 2009. He is a free kick and penalty kick specialist and has the rather fun nickname of “Mr Cool”. 24-year-old Shinji Okazaki already has 16 goals to his name, despite only debuting for the senior national team in late 2008. Earlier this year, he was named the world’s top goal scorer (15) for 2009 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). 2010 FIFA World Cup Matches During the fi nal draw, Japan was selected along with the Netherlands, Denmark and Cameroon (all teams that score higher than them on the FIFA World Rankings) to make up Group E. Japan will begin their campaign against Cameroon (ranked 19th) on the 14th of June at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. They then face possibly their toughest fi ght of the tournament against the Netherlands, which is currently ranked 4th in the world. They will square off against each other at the striking Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban. Japan’s fi nal opening round match will be held at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg and looks set to be their most even contest against Denmark, which is rated just nine places higher than them on the FIFA World Rankings. Want to spot the team and practise your Nihongo? The team will be staying at the Fancourt Hotel and Country Club just outside George. Chances are good then, that dedicated fans who camp outside the hotel are bound to spot the team at some point or another, especially as unlike bigger teams like Brazil and Portugal, you won’t have to wade through millions of screaming fans to get a glimpse of them. Add some Japanese fl ags and some choice words of Japanese and you might even get yourself an autograph!.