WC 2002 - Japan - Other random pictures

Looking down on a temple in Tokyo. It was amazing the number of places in Japan that were recreations of the original buildings. Many wooden temples were burnt down several times (many in the Onion wars).................








Japan was a clash of old and new. This is pretty much in the heart of Tokyo





.....................This highlights the contrast of the old and the new......................



Japanese people are very small compared to us larger Westerners. I think the size of the bath in our Hotel highlights this quite well. You also got a free dressinggown (or is it a nightshirt) in every hotel we stayed in (apart from Sapporro when we didnt even get beds!!!!).




























Tokyo at night - amazing stuff..........................

WC 2002 - Japan - part iv (v Brazil) 15.6 to 27.6

Saturday 15/06/02
Home

England v Denmark (2nd Round) 3-0
Watched in King & Queen in Brighton. Heaving 6/700 people. Covered in beer for each goal. Party time, everyone piles out into Old Stein on the final whistle. Police close it off as crowds gather! I head back to travel agent to get tickets, then a few of us met up at the Duke of Wellington, our local before Brighton home games. Held flights at 9am, booked them 3pm! Decide to stick to Japan time so in bed at 7am and up about 5am each day

Sunday 16/06/02
Home

Monday 17/06/02
Home
Accountancy Exam. 1pm Right 1 down 3 to go, must remember to take book tomorrow so can do something during the exam other than thinking about return trip, and regret lack of revision!



Tuesday 18/06/02
Home


Up at 3am to phone England fans in Tokyo to get a Brazil ticket
Exam – Mmm slight worse than yesterdays



Wednesday 19/06/02

In the Air!

Exam – finished in about an hour, shame it wasn’t because I had completed the paper but because I had run out of waffle, unusual for me!
Taxi waiting outside exam hall in Crawley. Flight 7.45 JAL to Tokyo. More Films (Monster Inc). Sat next to ??????? who was an apprentice at Coventry before moving on to Northampton then drifting out of football. We manage to drink half the red wine on board the aircraft!

Thursday 20/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

…..15.15 Tokyo
Liz met me at the airport. Bed! Then evening meal in cracking restaurant. Communication problems! Much mirth. End up with gorgeous food, almost self-cooked steak in a hot dish!

Friday 21/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda


England v Brazil (1/4 Final) 1-2 in Shizuoka
Early train to get to Kagagawa Castle to pick up ticket from england fans tent – they are 30 minutes late causing mild panic among those of us waiting for tickets. Tickets in the Brazil end of the stadium!
Bus to ground in middle of nowhere!



Yes as I said in the middle on nowhere. Once again a fantastic stadium but built away from the city. I think this is one of the grounds that was to be pulled down after the World Cup. What a waste, can they move it lock stock and barrel to Brighton as we still need a new ground!!







........................Lizs seat is very close to John Barnes and they have a chin wag.........

..........................John Motson shows how it is all done.....................





Darren, Colin and Piers relax before kick off



Looks like Rio is in the team!!!!!








After the game bump into Mickey Hanlon, a fellow supporter from Sussex, both disappointed but talk about Slovakia in October, oh and test match at the Oval. Cricket, I had completely forgotten it was the cricket season! Bump into Middlesborough Mick, other Cov Lads outside Lawsons in Kagagawa. Sit on the pavement outside waiting to meet up with the others. Console myself with an egg sandwich, a packet of chipsticks and a bottle of CC Lemon drink!

Saturday 22/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

Ginza - Italian lunch – evening meal in cracking restaurant. Communication problems! Much mirth. End up with gorgeous food, almost self cooked steak in a hot dish!

Sunday 23/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

Asakusa for souvenir shopping, Imperial Palace. Piers & Cols last night so out in Rappongi.

Monday 24/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

Electrical area of Kanda - bought Digital camera that does video clips

We visit the national television broadcasting studios - and do the tour!!



As you can see 2 born newsreaders..........







I think its me on the right with my new mate, not quite sure what it is but hey it looks friendly (ish!!)






Tuesday 25/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

Watched Germany v Korea in bar in Kanda drinking cocktails - Chi Chisetc – back to the restaurant with no name that cooks great steak.




..............yet another interesting building, was it a bar, a shop, a house? No idea!!..............

Wednesday 26/06/02
Tokyo-Kanda

to Airport with Liz & Daz - confirmed my change of flight! Watched Brazil v Turkey at the church in Ueon with a mad Geordie and a few other English lads. Mainly Japanese in the bar, either drinking nothing or asleep!

Thursday 27/06/02
Home

The end of the trip draws near. Up at 7am, train to the airport, check in early and get an emergency exit seat so extra leg room (turned out not to be due to emergency door sticking out!). An old women has request a change of seats so I oblige and get another bulk head seat sat next to a Korean lad on a whisltle stop tour of long. He speaks superb english learnt from TV and listening to music. We wile away the hours talking, watching films, playing games (draughts for 2 players kept us going for a couple of hours) on the personal TV’s. We exchange e-mail addresses and depart on great terms.


Yet another 6,250 miles Films (Ali and Snow Dogs)

So a brief summary
Distance travelled (approximate)
London to Tokyo 6,250 miles
Tokyo to Aomori
Amori to Sapporo
Sapporo to Osaka
Osaka to Tokyo
Tokyo to London 6,250
London to Tokyo 6,250
Tokyo to London 6,250
Grand Total 27,000

Money
Ahhhhhhhhhhabout£4,500ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Mark R
Brighton & Hove Albion on Tour
Roll on Slovakia on the 12th October

WC 2002 - Japan - part iii (v Nigeria) 11.6 to 14.6

Tuesday 11/06/02
Kyoto



5 story pagoda,, biggest in Japan. Bump into Paul and Howard again.















On to 3 year and 2 year hill






These pictures really sum up Japan for me. The old traditional Japan, was saw so many amazing things, but just seeing where people lived and worked was the best bits for me.








, 60 foot concrete statue! Walk round gardens in pouring rain, very impressive,






unlike Liz’s rather sad broken and bettered umbrella the attendants gave her!



Kyoto is fast becoming my favourite place for site seeing in Japan.



Watched Ireland match in Queens bar as quieter than the packed Hub




Wednesday 12/06/02
Kyoto

England v Nigeria 0-0 in Osaka








We catch the train down to Osaka from Kyoto. This was only a semi fast bullet train journey, but still very impressive.


Yet another impressive ground for the final group match. The weather was hot hot hot.


People delay getting into the ground to stay in the shade. The end we were in was getting the full impact of the sun. It meant quite a subdued atmosphere and the game never really got going







Bar in Osaka before and after game! Slow service. Family painting St George’s crosses on faces. Long delay afterwards to tube. People queuing with bicycles! Why! Actually just trying to get to the road but caught in crowd!






Thursday 13/06/02
Tokyo - Rappongi

Flight from Oasaka to Tokyo
Should I stay or should I go? Meal to Ma ?? ??

We went in a really nice restaurant, they bought food in the order you order it, so best make sure you get it right! The last but one dish we ordered was extra thick noodles. It came with a seaweed or cabbage topping on a hot plate. As the heat took effect it all started to wriggle around! As with many dishes in Japan you are not always 100% sure what you are eating! I had a mouthful before I noticed the food wriggling about and nearly fell off my chair. Liz turned green, but in investigation it was just the seaweed stuff reacting to the heat, we think! Not a nice experience as I had visions of it being that octopus that wriggles in your mouth and stomach after eating it!

Friday 14/06/02
Home

10.05 Tokyo 14.50 Frankfurt 16.15 Frankfurt 16.55 Heathrow
Met lads from Shoreham on flight got a taxi back to Hove with them!
Andy and Phil heading home the next day so will be in the air for the Denmark match. Phil is on Aeroflot and had planned to watch it in Moscow, but following the riots and death decided to carry straight on back to London!

I get back and remember to ask my Mum how her knee op went (luck my Sister phoned me on the way home to remind me so I could buy a card!)

WC 2002 - Japan - part ii (v Argentina)- 4.6 to 10.6

Tuesday 04/06/02
Aomori



Booked up ferry - wander round Aomori -

Sushi by mistake night (free green tea, I ask for Chicken - no fish only - comes back with Chicken egg I had rice and egg, we both had rice and onion, Liz had rice and shrimp OK, rice and something not so nice. Liz had now turned the colour of the tea, she had drunk so much of it to take away the taste. £25 for our 20 minute raw experience of Japanese food!We head back to the safety of our new home, the Karioki bar from the night before. The big chap in the Grey suit soons takes the microphone up. He is built like a Sumo wrestler but has the voice of an angel. He does several songs and gets a standing ovation. They say Karaoke was invented in Japan, well it is still alive and kicking today and very popular.


Wednesday 05/06/02
Aomori

Hirosaki for the day - gardens, old samurai houses. Phil B arrived. Meal Pork and noodles in a broth - again! Has to ask to see what somebody else was eating and said we wanted that!














We visited an old Samurai house. The floor boards are designed so that they squeak like a bord when you walk on them, hence they are called Nightingale floorboards. This was designed to warn anyone inside the house that they had visitors, more than likely not coming in peace!!!




Thursday 06/06/02
Sapporo

It was time to move on. The journey started with catching the ferry from Aomori to Hakkodate.




The sea was as calm as you like. We had opted for the ferry rather than the train, but as you can just make out it was rather foggy. The train spends most the journy in tunnels, we spent several hours seeing nothing, but we docked exactly on time as ever in japan, infact we waited outside the harbour for several minutes to make sure we were not early!

To pass the time Sal dug out the travel monopoly. Soon we had a big audiance as the Japanese tried to work out what these strange people were playing. it certainly helped to pass the time1

Train Hakkodate to Sapporo




Hurray - a view!!! We soon left the fog behind and another glourious day beckoned.........and another from our speeding train. We had now moved to the North Island and the prospect of playing Argentina in the indoor stadium at Sapporo. We had left Phil B just one thing to book up on this trip and that was the accommodation in Sapporo. what would we find when we arrived....................


Nice room, love the beds, what do you mean what beds, look on the floor thats your bed!!

Accommodation no beds, Meal (yes you guessed Noodles in Soup) Colin managed an Ice Cream. Liz had a nice variation with Sweetcorn and butter added!


We tuck into the Noodles and the chef gives us the seal of approval




Friday 07/06/02
Sapporo



England v Argentina 1-0 in Sapporo
Out until 4.30 in English bar. Jugs of Sapporo until it runs out then jugs of Kirin



Liz and I fly the flag with the welcome to Sapporo world cup sign...but does Phil know there is an Argentinean flag as his background??





..................now take your pick of what activity you are going to do today! Liz and I want to do tucking up our sleeves with a cord. This was all in the fans park in Sapporo before the game...



We decide to move towards the ground, Little Sal's getting excited!


I dont think I have ever wanted to win a game so much, the atmosphere really is electric, the roof creating a fabuous cauldron!



A few pictures from the game




Wooooo Hooooo we win 1-0 with a Beckham penalty!!!!! Yesssssssssssssssssssssss


Saturday 08/06/02
Kyoto

Flight Sapporo to Kansai (Osaka) Train to Kyoto
Up at 6am to get to the airport
Hotel about 2 mins from station, we get lost and it takes us ½ an hour to find it!

Sunday 09/06/02
Kyoto

Two Temples, Nigo Castle and Imperial Palace.





This was one of the best temples we visited - it was massive in size and fantastic in decoration!








Find road with about 6 temples in it!
Asian restaurant – strange but atmospheric place for a meal. Place grew on me as time went on!

Monday 10/06/02
Kyoto

Philosophers Walk - Hub pub in evening - dodgy happy hour. Fast Food Noodle bar, Liz orders and almost manages to eat entire menu!