I left school a few minutes early on Friday in order to catch a ride with some people to Koriyama where we would catch a bus to Nagano. It was sunny in the morning, so I neglected to bring a jacket to work.
This turned out to be a big mistake as, come noon, it began to rain. By the time I left school, the rain had become torrential. Because I knew that I was going to get wet and inevitably have to take a shower before the bus trip to Nagano, I stripped down to undershirt and pants (‘pants’ in the North American sense, not the ‘pants’ the Scots use to denote underwear), and rode home barefoot in the rain. At home, I wrung out my clothes, had a quick shower, and was out the door to catch my ride. It had mostly stopped raining at this point.FUJET, the group organizing the trip, had rented a bus for us to use for the weekend. We caught the bus from Koriyama at about 7pm and arrived in Nagano at about 2:30AM. We pretty well had a full bus with 43 people, so it was good times all the way there. I don’t remember much about getting to the hotel that night, but in the morning, one person woke up with a sprained ankle and the other with an injured thumb. It was no small coincidence that these two were into their cups more than most that night.
The next morning we were up at 7:30 for breakfast and then on the bus by 8:30 to go to the soccer fields. We had geared up in our soccer equipment and each of us sported our new “Akabekos” jerseys. Akabekos are sort of a mascot for Fukushima-ken – they are red polka-dotted cows that look like small red dogs.
The hotel and soccer fields are quite high amongst the ski runs in the mountains of Nagano. Yet, still a bit shocked as we stepped out of the warm hotel in our shorts into the sleet and rain that was coming down outside.
To be honest, I don’t remember much of the first game that we played. I don’t think that my brain or my body was awake until about noon – just before our second game. All I remember was being very stiff and quite useless throughout the game. The game was against Fukui and I think we lost 4-0, even though this was the game that we
thought we would have a chance to win. The other two teams had played each other in the finals at last year’s tournament – each placing first and second respectively. We didn’t think we’d have much chance of winning either of these. Nonetheless, I think it was a decent game and we ended up quite close with our Fukui brethren.We then had to sit through three 40-minute games until our next chance to play. None of us brought enough clothes and we were still tired from not sleeping the night before, so we spent our time freezing on the ground trying to get some rest. There was also a lack of concession and water at the fields – although I came prepared with my standard fare of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (a few of which went to sustaining our team for the day).
Our next game was against the British Embassy. They were the team that won the tournament last year and you can view their website here: British Embassy website. Despite the team’s rigorous schedule and team sponsorship, we must have had one hell of a practice last Saturday because we ended up winning the match 2-1. This would be the Akabekos’ only win in the team’s two year history. It was an intense game as we had scored early and we both played hard to win. We may have been a bit lucky as we had about 3 shots to their 20. Nonetheless, we became somewhat heroes in the tournament, as nobody really likes the Embassy. Like great soccer players, they bitched every call, played dirty, and took digs at our goalie. The few shouting matches from the day happened during this game.
By this time, the sun had come out and it was a beautiful day.
We had a break before we played our last game of the day against the Real Osaka. Again, you can view their website here: Real Osaka Website. I think that last year they played the British Embassy in t
he finals and lost to them. This year, they have an amazing team of really good guys. Our team didn’t have much soccer left in us for the day and we were no mach for them. Still, they played a really friendly game and only beat us 5-0 (it could have easily been 15-0 if they wanted). I’m still not sure we could have done anything to stop the goals that they put in.After the games were finished and our referee duties done, the day wound to a close and all of the teams left the grounds to go back to the hotel. In the meantime, our team stood in the, now cold-again, mountains waiting for our bus. The upside to this was that we got to see a full moon rise from behind the mountains. I wish I had my camera because the light was also low enough that it may have actually exposed correctly in the dusk.
Anyway, the night consisted of a delicious dinner of food – any food really would have sufficed at this point, a hot shower, and then a night of party. Although, I must say that at this point in my Japan experience, I’m a bit partied out. I had a few drinks with my team early on, but for the rest of the night, I hung out with a couple of good friends.
After only a semi-late night, we rose again at 7:30 for breakfast, and were out of the hotel by 8:30. The sun was out today and we played at the proper soccer pitches today – due to the rain yesterday, we were moved to alternate fields, which weren’t quite as nice.
We had high hopes going into our first game of elimination. The team we were playing had lost one game 12-0 yesterday. Since then however, they picked up a couple of players who were very good. One of them scored a hat trick on us and they beat us 4-0. It was a good game nonetheless and we got to leave the tournament early so that we could all get home and catch our local buses while they were still running.
After receiving a curry lunch at the fields, we headed back to the hotel for showers and then were on the road for our seven hour journey back to Fukushima-ken (and then another hour and a half bus back to Iwaki). This ride was a bit tamer than the ride up – with only a couple of people drinking. It made for a long ride though – even with a small snooze.
By the time I got home, it was after 9pm. I had time for a bit to eat and then pretty much crashed hard into bed.
I think that the highlight of the trip was when an older Japanese man, who had refereed one of our games and was impressed by our play, found us at our dinner table and yelled, with both arms in the air, “Fukushima has the fighting spirit!”
