Japan and the World Cup: Silencing the critics · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Ranked near the bottom of the 32 teams on the field in South Africa, facing odds estimated at 400-to-1 and four straight pre-tournament losses to boot, Japan was not even expected to win a game in this year's World Cup, let alone advance to the knock-out round.
How quickly perceptions change. With a convincing 3-1 victory over the favoured Danish team on Thursday, Japan has earned itself a place behind Holland in Group E, advancing to the next round for only the second time in World Cup history and the first time on foreign soil. A mesmerizing 35-meter free kick by rising star Keisuke Honda gave Japan their lead in the 17th minute, followed in quick succession with another by free-kick specialist Yasuhito Endo from 25 meters out in the 30th minute. The Danes never managed to recover from the early assault, and the game ended with Japanese maintaining a comfortable two goal lead.
Blogger Fumofumocolumn describes the feeling in the early morning hours in Japan when the Japanese team secured its place in the knockout round:
南アフリカの大地。宵闇の中のスタジアム。緑のピッチに映える、夏空のように濃く青いユニフォーム。胸に輝く日の丸は、朝焼けの色。夜明けの赤。今この記憶を書き綴る間にも、胸が高鳴り、手が震えるほどの昂ぶり。日本ではもう新しい朝が始まっています。この太陽は日本サッカーの暗闇を払い、夜明けを告げる光。7時間後、南アフリカの大地にもこの太陽がめぐり、僕らの代表を明るく照らします。ライジング・サン。日本代表は雄雄しく、誇らしく、ベスト16へと駆け上がりました。
引き分け以上で決勝トーナメント進出が決まるデンマーク戦。別会場で行われるオランダVSカメルーン戦は勝ち抜けを争う戦いではないので、日本代表の試合が世界の注目を集めたことでしょう。その大舞台でこんな結果が出るとは、いい意味で期待を裏切られました。よもやの3-1。美しい大勝。本田圭佑の無回転 FK弾、遠藤保仁の緩やかなカーブを描くFK弾、本田・岡崎コンビでデンマークDFを切り裂いたダメ押し弾。日本はデンマークを圧倒していました。0-0 引き分けでの勝ち上がりとは違う、力で押し切った戦いぶりは、「偶然」とか「幸運」とか「相手が弱かった」なんて疑問の余地のないもの。勝つべくして、このグループを突破するべくして、日本は勝ち上がったのです。世界の多くのファンも、そして日本のファンも、日本代表の強さを認めたに違いありません。
Behind the scenes, there was another story [ja] to Japan's success thus far in the World Cup. Among the record-setting 3,283 tweets-per-second flooding the microblogging service during the Japan-Denmark game, many were expressing apologies to one person: coach Takeshi Okada, who had been the target of fierce domestic and international criticism leading up to the World Cup tournament, most famously from former Japan coach Philippe Troussier, who lamented Okada's “stupid mentality”.
With the Denmark win, all at once the critics were silenced. A new hashtag, “#okachan_sorry“, was even created by Japanese fans to express their apologies to the coach for doubting his leadership abilities.
Team Japan coach Takeshi Okada
A search for the hashtag on Twitter brings up a slew of apologies. One from hase_aki:
正直なところ、監督交代しないとＷＣは闘えないなと思っていました。ところが、松井、大久保、本田をメインにした起用は大正解‼ 交代が必要だったのは監督でなくて選手のほうだったのね。岡ちゃんゴメン。Go Japan Go #okachan_sorry
And another from shunta_com:
まだ、デンマーク戦勝利の余韻からさめきれない・・・。目頭が熱くなった一戦だった。個々人としては、決して強くないチームが組織としてひとつになり、勝ち得た戦い。最高！そして、岡田さん、すみませんでした！！ #okachan_sorry
hagure_mental77 goes further:
僕みたいな馬鹿共の心無い批判、嘲笑、罵詈雑言にさらされてもしっかり本番までに戦えるチームを作ってきた岡田監督と選手達はマジすげえ。尊敬する。 #okachan_sorry
Prior to the start of the World Cup, many derided Okada's stated goal to get his team to the World Cup semi-finals just like the South Koreans did in 2002. But attitudes have changed, and expectations have too. That means that more attention than ever will be focused on the Tuesday night match against Paraguay, where many Japanese — and their team's players — believe their team will win.
Should that not happen, some are already looking further ahead. Anybody up for a World Cup in Tokyo?
(Some more Japan soccer-related videos included below for your viewing enjoyment.)