Well, waaa~~yyy back, my Wadaiko group was set on a string of settai. One was run by our president ("Nani Sore Something Something" Shunyo, the boy looking at this red phone and standing next to me in that ever-so-flattering photo). He absolutely loves soccer, and practically lived on the soccer field in high school, so he opened up a goup outing to see his hometown, pro-team play. A chance to see a Japanese soccer game AND hang out with the Wadaiko members?! I’m in all the way!! And so were the OYRangers, but the other kids….were busy. But even if it was just the foreign students who promised to come, Shunyo went all out; he brought all of his official jerseys and t-shirts for us to wear on top of all our jackets and sweaters, taught us soccer terms, gave us the team’s stats, showed us chants and cheers, and escorted us from start to finish. Thus were the OYRangers made into Urawa Red Diamonds fans. Or, as they say in Japanese, “We are Redzu!” Engrish makes me smile.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. A few things happened before we even made it to the stadium. First of all, we were running a little late. We had to dash straight from practice, so everyone was pretty tuckered, but had to stay somewhat awake on the series of buses and trains. As we were waiting at one of the many stations that took us to Saitama, Shunyo made a call, and then walked down a narrow hallway, stopping in front of a tall, thin boy with a high school uniform.
“What is he doing?” the Yellow Ranger asked. “Maybe the boy is asking him something” the Red Ranger speculated. “Nah,” the Green Ranger piped up, “He wouldn’t have gone all the way down to hallway to get asked a question.” The Red Ranger gave another guess “Maybe they know each other. We’re near Shunyo’s hometown, you know.” After a moment or two, I noticed something a little strange.“Um…hey, guys…does that kid have a white envelope with him? Yeah, it kind of looks like …Shunyo just snatched it away!! Now he’s pushing that kid around! What’s going on!? He’s, he’s hustling that kid!”
After the brief wave of panic, we were able to find out what was really going on. In actuality, that “kid” was one of Shunyo’s kid brothers and was just dropping off our tickets to his big bro (so rough housing is totally normal).
A. Ny. Way. We finally get to the field and this thing is super! I'm so glad that Shunyo used to pretty much live at this field when he was younger, because just navigating the parking lot was an adventure. It tuns out that although we bought tickets, we couldn't find a place to sit, so instead we all stood in the isle, which wasn't that weird as it turns out. From our lofty spot we could see everyone from the opposing team's fans to the players, the die-hard flag wavers, and the ocean of Reds fans.
The stadium was made especially for the FIFA World Cup 2002 Korea/Japan and can hold 63,700, making it Japan's biggest specialized football ground. But more than come to see the game, the fans who fill these stands feel like they are actually a part of the victory. There are dozens of songs, chants, and dances that everyone seems to know. If you don't, you learn them right quick, to be sure. I was worried about using my camera to record them because I figured, "As soon as I turn it on, they'll stop." Not true: one song was repeated for a timed 20 minute interval! The fans feel that if they have just as much energy as the players, it will all be channeled to victory, somehow. We just faked like we knew the words and sang along with the rest of them for the fun of it.
Bad news? Reds lost. Good news? I got to scream at the top of my lungs in Japanese with my friends!!
After the game, there was a huge closing ceremony because it was the last home game of the season/pre-season/actually I'm not sure why they had it. Sorry. I'm sure that you fine folks at home are probably bored to tears with this, so I'll end on some fun videos. Also, if you were looking in my photo gallery and were wondering what the final image that the crowd made was, watch the last video!
For more Reds Fan fun, check out their English website!
http://www.urawa-reds.co.jp/index_en.html
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