10 Years Too Late

I don’t remember much about the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, except Owen taking a dive against Argentina…and getting up at ridiculous o’clock to watch one of the worst 0-0 draws I have ever seen…and Rivaldo making a twat of himself…and China were in it…and South Korea did quite well…and my mate walked out of our Stats exam early so he could watch Ireland-Germany (a cracker by all accounts)…and a chipmunk fooled Seaman, but other than that, not much. 

The 2002 World Cup came a bit too early for me to be able to afford to head out to the other side of the planet to watch football (something I did last summer, watching Villa play in Hong Kong), as well as the fact I had the small matter of taking exams at the end of my first year at Newcastle University.

I had gone to Beppu for the onsen, but after a couple of days of that, I was a little onsened-out and needed another form of entertainment. Oita is a city that was a short train ride away, so I thought I would go and explore it. But ‘what is in Oita?’ I hear you ask. Not much by all accounts, though it was one of the ten, count them, host cities for Japan’s half of the World Cup. I thus decided to go and have a look at the formerly-named ‘Big Eye Stadium’.

Oita 'Big Eye' Stadium

A confusing walk from the tiny Takio train station, I eventually found it in an out-of-town sports park – like the majority of the stadia. You can see where it originally got its name from, with arches reaching across from one side to the other around the dome-shaped arena, though it is now called the Oita Bank Dome. There were a few bits of memorabilia around to commemorate the World Cup (didn’t exactly see any classics), though the stadium seemed little-used other than the odd Oita Trinita J-League match, which is a shame, as I quite liked it.

Oita 'Big Eye' Stadium

Despite having one of the cleanest train stations I have ever seen, it seemed a strange choice as a host city, other, much larger cities, not getting the nod, but I looked into the other host cities and found that many of them would be stops on my trip. It was then I decided that I would set myself the pointless task of visiting as many of the ten stadia as possible.

Hanshin was the next stop on this magical mystery tour, as I stayed in Kobe for some easy access to the Kobe Wing Stadium (now the Homes Stadium) in Kobe and Nagai Stadium in Osaka. First Kobe, where a long walk saw me arrive on a day when Inac Kobe, essentially the Japanese women’s national team, were playing an early kick-off. The ground seems to have changed a little since the World Cup, though they do seem to favour moving roofs and morphing stands here, so could have simply been down to the day I arrived. It’s not exactly a great stadium, but is big enough and seems to get its fair share of use out of the men’s and women’s Kobe teams.

Kobe Wing Stadium

The Nagai Stadium in Osaka looks a little grander in pictures from the air than in the concrete. A bland, round, concrete affair that seems to have little variety as you walk round it. There were a fair few kids practising appalling dance routines and practicing sports all around it, and two smaller stadiums sit either side of it, which seems a little unnecessary. Occasionally used by Cerezo Osaka, this seems more of a general events venue now, though is definitely one of the more easily accessible stadiums, being relatively central in the city. It was also the site of that depressing England-Nigeria 0-0 that I got up at 5:30 to watch.

Nagai Stadium, Osaka

Next was Sendai and the (Mr.) Miyagi Stadium. Again, one that looks better from the air, but isn’t too bad from ground-level either, though it seems to be greatly under construction at the moment and not being used. What was quite a nice area around the stadium is also a bit worse for wear and could do with a bit of work again as well. Not currently used by Vegalta Sendai, who suffered their own problems during the tsunami last year, and stuck a little away from the city centre, it seems a bit of a forgotten stadium.

Miyagi Stadium, Sendai

Miyagi Stadium, Sendai

I seem to remember seeing a video of one of the stadiums used having two pitches, with one left outside and then moved in as-and-when required. That stadium was the Sapporo Dome, home to the Hokkaido Ham Fighters baseball team and sometimes Consadole Sapporo. I was impressed by the Dome on arrival, looking more like something out of ‘Flight of the Navigator’ than a football stadium, and it sits nicely on the edge of the city, with mountains visible in the distance.

Sapporo Dome

I walked round and decided to take the stadium tour, though this is much more one for baseball fans, Japanese-speaking baseball fans. But the use of some sort of hoover system to move the football pitch in is impressive and the sort of novelty you expect from a stadium built for the World Cup. Silly and unnecessary, the Sapporo Dome is certainly unique, and for that reason alone is one of the better stadiums used a decade ago.

Sapporo Dome

I could see the Niigata Stadium, or the ‘Big Swan’ Stadium, from my hotel room, and it looked good from above and in the distance. Sat by a lake, I thought this would be a good one to view, though on seeing the lake, I was less sure. The park the stadium sits in is well maintained and seems a site for summer barbecues, even if it is raining, with quite a few people around on a non-match day. The roof is the attraction here, but is only properly visible from above; from the ground, it’s just another concrete circle. The lake it sits next to has seen better days and so doesn’t make for any great views from the opposite side. But lest we forget, this is where Emile Heskey scored his World Cup goal, and for that it is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Niigata 'Big Swan' Stadium

Back in Tokyo, I made easy trips out to Saitama for the Saitama 2002 Stadium and Yokohama for the Nissan Stadium. With Tokyo not actually having a World Cup stadium, these were the next best thing, and as such are much larger than the others. Saitama is home to the Urawa Reds, who get some of the better attendances in the J-League and is the most used by the national team. Again sat in a sports park on the edge of a city, it’s not too much of a journey from Tokyo, provided you get off at the right station, and is one still regularly used. There seemed to be much more of a ‘getting things ready for games’ attitude around the ground, with two teams with big fan bases the focus of much attention around the place.

Saitama 2002 Stadium

And finally, the Nissan Stadium – not called that then of course. Home of the final, this is the largest stadium out of the twenty used in Japan and South Korea, and while not the most unique, is definitely the one that feels most like a football stadium from the ones I visited. You sense they were trying to recreate a large European stadium with this one, feeling like it could sit in Italy or Spain. Though probably way larger than they need, the F. Marinos call it home, and it’s again a not too bad journey from Japan’s largest city to its second.

Nissan Stadium, Yokohama

With the exception of the Nagai Stadium and the Nissan Stadium, all twenty were complete in 2001 in time for the World Cup Finals. With the J-League taking off since then, the local sides have tended to make them home and so get some sort of regular use, though Sendai and Oita – either not being used or by a Division 2 side – seem more a place of memories than anything else.

I decided against trips to the last two stadiums in Shizuoka and Ibaraki, because who goes to Shizuoka or Ibaraki?! The Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa is a large one and a regular of the national side, while the Kashima Stadium in Ibaraki is the smallest used in the Finals. That meant a completion score of 80%: a distinction if it were a University degree; that was the dream ten years ago at the end of the first year anyway. My results of my first year were approximately half that…maybe I did watch too much football… 

Strong Island: Hokkaido

A Japanese woman once said to me that the top three places to go in Japan are: Tokyo, Kyoto and Hokkaido. Based on the success of my visits to the first two, I had high hopes for the two weeks I was due to spend in Hokkaido.

After a long eight-hour journey door-to-door from Hirosaki to Sapporo involving three trains, including an eight-minute change over period in Hakodate – which was reduced to four-minutes when my train was delayed (a train four-minutes late in Japan, I mean honestly) – I wasn’t expecting too much from my first evening in Hokkaido except a quiet night in. But within my first four hours there, I had: eaten some street noodles, seen some stand-up comedy (in Japanese), had some beers, befriended a man drunk enough to give me the full names of each member of Blue and Busted and literally bought a T-shirt.

'You know what mice are?' Sapporo

Yes, it’s fair to say I immediately liked Sapporo. This was furthered by visiting the Sapporo Beer Museum the next day. While the museum isn’t much to speak of, apart from convincing me that women like beer from the various old Sapporo Beer adverts around the place, it’s free and the bar offers three half-pints for £4, making it one of the cheapest places to drink in Japan (probable hyperbole). I think I’ll go round again! I then made a pact that I would only drink Sapporo while on Hokkaido.

Sapporo Beer Museum

Also while in Hokkaido’s largest city I did the inaugural city tower view that all Japanese cities have; went up the Mt. Moiwa for the city view from a different angle, continued my pointless mission to visit all of Japan’s World Cup stadiums (No. 5: Sapporo Dome), as well as literally buying more T-shirts.

Sapporo Dome

The Sapporo Dome is an impressive stadium, but not so much a stadium more a display of technological advance. Serving as both a baseball pitch for the Hokkaido Ham Fighters and football pitch for the J-League Division 1’s bottom team, Consadole Sapporo, the baseball pitch is the permanent fixture in the Dome, while the football pitch – where Michael Owen took a dive against Argentina a decade ago – sits outside the Dome, hovered in as the inner-stadium morphs to a shrine to the beautiful game. Hugely unnecessary, but impressive nonetheless. In fact, I was impressed enough to take the tour where the guide spoke at a thousand words per minute and even if I could fully understand Japanese, I wouldn’t have caught a word.

Sapporo

Also while in Sapporo I discovered my new favourite shop, for T-shirts at least, in Jumble Store. I’ve been to ones in other cities, though the ones in Sapporo were particularly good. Essentially a second-hand/out-of-date old stock sell-off shop, it is 1990s T-shirt heaven for the likes of me; picking up some garb that is deliciously un-ironic being that they are out-of-fashion originals. I’ve always needed a DC Shoes original Sony PlayStation blueprint T-shirt, and now I have one, along with my 1992 Dream Team on the cover of Sports Illustrated T-shirt.

After Tokyo and Naha in Okinawa, Sapporo was the place I would be staying the longest while here, but Hokkaido’s a big place and I had, sadly, to move on.

Wakkanai was next, arriving at Japan’s northern-most point after a six-hour bus ride. As the sun set, I walked up to Cape Noshappu, to see Japan’s second most northern point in the twilight. The next day, it was off to Cape Soya for the real thing in Japan’s northern-most point. At each, there were excellent views and some monuments, but little else, and there is only so long you can stare out at the Sea of Okhotsk.

Cape Noshappu, Wakkanai

In seeking entertainment, I went up the hills alongside the city, finding a trail to walk through in-and-amongst trees, streams and hills. At the end, I found a sign that seemed to imply that the trail was off limits and that I shouldn’t have walked along it. Oh well, I came out unscathed and having enjoyed it. Luckily for the evenings the most entertaining place was my hotel, providing free onsen, a free washing machine and free noodles from 21:30-23:00. What endless fun I had the two nights I was there.

From Ishigaki to Cape Soya

Two nights in Wakkanai was all that I needed, as I would have run out of clothes to wash in the evenings if I stayed any longer. While the opportunity to learn Russian was ever present, apart from saying that I have been to the most northern point in Japan there was not a great deal of interest there.

Wakkanai

Asahikawa was next after another long train ride involving a change at Nayoro. The first half of the journey from Wakkanai to Nayoro was a long but scenic one, with the endless mountains and trees associated with Hokkaido along the way. However, passed Nayoro, the scenery became less attractive and more urbanised as we reached Hokkaido’s second largest city.

Asahikawa Train Station

Asahikawa surpassed Oita as the cleanest train station I have ever been to, but served largely as a stopping point for trips to Daisetsuzan National Park and Biei. At the Tourist Information Office I was aided by a woman that should get a job at the Too Much Information Office, providing me all the information I required, as well as setting me up with a meal and a place to get pissed for the evening. Oh, and she once stayed in Bournemouth, likes a pint, and loves football and swimming. Asahikawa for me though was little more than Tokiwa Koen and Ishikari River, where I went for nice, long runs each of the two mornings I was there.

Tokiwa Koen, Asahikawa

Despite being a stop-off point for visiting Daisetsuzan National Park, Asahikawa is still a two-hour bus ride away. With less than helpful bus scheduling, I wouldn’t be allowed a great deal of time for my day trip to Japan’s largest national park. In the time I did have there, I decided to visit its ups and downs, starting with the Ginga and Ryusei falls along the Sounkyo Gorge, where I luckily didn’t come across any of the advertised bears.

Sounkyo Gorge

Next it was on to Mt. Kurodake, being that it was nearest, and used the ropeways to get close to the peak. Despite the good views from up there, I was disappointed to not be able to get to the peak due to the melting snow making the slope slippery, leaving me to nearly take out a Chinese woman. Despite the good views and sights seen, I left a little disappointed due to not having enough time to fully explore the park as I would want – though that would take a good week or so.

Daisetsuzan National Park

Like many Japanese advertisers, if there was one image I wanted to get while in Japan it is a picture of a lone tree in a green field in the rolling hills of Biei. Self-described as the most beautiful villages in Japan, I wandered the farmland of the area south of Asahikawa in search of the perfect photo. Luckily – as with pretty much my entire time in Hokkaido – the weather was perfect: hot, with bright blue skies.

Biei

Finding endless fields with the mountains of Daisetsuzan National Park as a backdrop, I couldn’t find a lone tree in one. Needlessly obsessed, I walked for hours around the scenic, European-like fields covering myself in sweat and T-shirt tan until I found an image I deemed good enough. Making cycling friends along the way (‘what did you just say?’), I only got to explore the Patchwork Road area of Biei, with more still to discover, though I had an appointment with a bus back to Sapporo and time was running out.

Biei

By this point, with only two weeks left until I return to London, I was knackered, and my next two days in Sapporo were fairly uneventful. I watched Japan make Ali Al-Habsi yearn for his Wigan defence in my new favourite pub, Jersey Bar, as Japan comfortably beat Oman 3-0. (As a side note, Man U new boy Shinji Perfume River had another good game for the Samurai Blue, though playing on the left wing, putting in balls like Ashley Young, you do wonder if Sir Alex wouldn’t be better off looking to strengthen in other areas first.) I then went to the town of Otaru the next day, but was too lethargic to be interested, and so made my way back to Sapporo for some rest, and to literally buy another T-shirt.

Otaru

My final stop in Hokkaido was in Hakodate: a random mixture of various foreign influences, unsurprising in a port town. Parts resemble Scandinavia, with wooden buildings reaching up the cloud-covered mountains, much like in Bergen. Other parts seem to resemble scenes from bad early 1980s American films set in scenes of urban decay (reminder: must watch Police Academy). Though, like Wakkanai, Hakodate is larger than it seems; the train station and hotels seemingly away from the city centre and central hubs.

Cloudy Hakodate

Tiredness and the one piece of bad weather I had in Hokkaido aside, I had moments that I didn’t enjoy in Hakodate, mainly being repeatedly attacked by a crow that seemed to have it in for me, hitting me with its wings as it flew by once and trying to claw at my head twice. The chicken shit always attacked from behind as well. Wanker! I did have some good moments though: a quick stop at the Hakodate Brewery being one, though it did mean I broke my only drinking Sapporo rule.

Moon over Hakodate

With less than two weeks now left before I’m back in the U-to-the-K, Hokkaido was my last real flourish in Japan before I have to start sinking back down Honshu and into reality. Scenically, definitely some of the best parts of Japan I have been to, and in Sapporo, one of my favourite cities here. But Hokkaido is a large island and I only got to see certain parts, and the parts I did go to weren’t fully explored. I could spend a good couple of months here making long bus trips from place to place to see what are undoubtedly some of Sun Origin’s best spots, as well as literally buying some more T-shirts.

Sapporo Beer Museum

But with two and a half months of travelling solo, I’m probably ready to head back home, in need of rest and some more stability after over ten weeks on the road, as well as being a little sick of having to hit pubs/bars/restaurants/beer museums alone each evening. Probably for the best then that I am now heading south back to Tokyo, but not before another couple of stops along the way. My ferry to Honshu awaits…