McDonalds “World Cup” menu

Do you know the FIFA soccer “World Cup“? Do you watch it?

It’s like the Olympics or “Super Bowl” for soccer.

I remember when Korea and Japan co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 and many matches were held in the Tokyo area. I tried to get interested in the event. I watched the games that Japan played, as well as the games that America played.

But, if I’m honest, I find soccer pretty boring.

I guess I’m in the minority with that opinion though because soccer, especially the World Cup, is very popular around the world.
In Japan, too.

It wasn’t always like that. When I first came to Japan, soccer wasn’t very popular here. Baseball was by far the most popular sport in Japan then.
When Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup, soccer-fever took off in Japan. And it’s been very popular here since.

Anyways, in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup, which will be hosted by Brazil from 2014 June 12th – July 13th, McDonalds in Japan is offering a special “World Cup” menu.

It says 「一番ウマい国はどこだ。」 (“Which country is the best?”)

They offer a Brazilian BBQ burger, German pork sandwich, Italian Risotto balls, Chicken McNuggets with Italian Basil and Cheese dip, Japanese “Ramune” floats, and more.

Is McDonalds doing a World Cup campaign like this in your country too?

Japan: East Asian Soccer Champions

I’m not really a big soccer fan.  But yesterday Japan and Korea played the championship game of the East Asian (Soccer) Cup.

So I watched their soccer games on TV yesterday,

Japanese and Korean sports teams have a rivalry…so people in both countries really want their team to win every time these two countries compete.

Countries that play in the East Asian Cup are: Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China, Taipei, Hong Kong, Australia, Guam, Macau, and the North Mariana Islands.

(South) Korea and Japan made it to the final round. They played the championship game in Korea yesterday.

First the women’s teams played.  The South Korean women’s soccer team beat the 「なでしこジャパン」 (Japan women’s soccer team) with a score of 2-1.

But in the men’s championship match, the “Samurai Blue” (Japan men’s soccer team) beat the South Korean men’s soccer team with the same score (2-1).

So, now the Japan men’s soccer team are the 2013 East Asian Cup champions.

Did you watch the games?

World Cup news

Japan won their first game in the 2010 World Cup (being played in South Africa now until 11 July, in case you didn’t know).

Japan defeated the African country of Cameroon with a score of 1-0 in the first soccer match for both countries’ teams in this years soccer World Cup.

The Japanese player Keisuke Honda was voted as the game’s MVP as he scored the only goal in the match.

Keisuke Honda (of Japan's "Samurai Blue" soccer team) scoring the only goal in Japan's match against Cameroon, 2010 June 14.

In other World Cup related news…
Islamic militants in the African nation of Somalia are apparently in charge of parts of that country and have imposed numerous, strict and outrageous laws…including making it a capital offense to watch the World Cup soccer matches on TV.

A group of the militants forced their way into private homes of people who were watching the Germany-Australia match.
The executed two of the soccer fans and arrested thirty others!

No country should oppress people like that.

How to improve the World Cup…use binoculars

The 2010 World Cup has begun. The World Cup is the international soccer championship games.

(I wrote this post about a drink Pepsi-Japan released recently in honor of the World Cup.)

I don’t think soccer is a very exciting game. But I remember seeing on TV here about ten or so years ago a soccer game organized by the famous Japanese comedian Beat Takeshi that was much more entertaining than how the game is usually played.

He made all of the players wear binoculars strapped by their faces. It was quite funny. Beat Takeshi always has excellent shows even today.

Of course someone put it on YouTube.

This is how soccer should be played:

Samurai Blue ガンバレ！

First of all, my blog reached the 400,000 hits point today. At the current rate of over 2,000 daily hits, my blog should reach the half-million hits mark by late July.

Thank you to everyone who visits my blog.

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Do you like サッカー (soccer)?
Personally, I don’t care for it much…but I know the “World Cup” is like the “Olympics of Soccer”.
The World Cup is an international championship soccer competition and it’s very popular around the whole world (except America 😉 ).

The 2010 World Cup is scheduled to begin on 2010 June 11. But currently there are some kind of “pre-World Cup” international soccer matches going on.

Tonight the Japan soccer team (nicknamed: “Samurai Blue“) is scheduled to play a game against the Korean soccer team in Saitama, Japan.

Ad for Japan's "Samurai Blue" team's soccer match against Korea this evening.

Here’s an Adidas Japan TV commercial for the Samurai Blue / World Cup:

ガンバレ日本！ (Good luck Japan!)