Last Sunday, June 15, 2014, I was in Hiroshima on a business trip to get some information for a new book I’m writing. It was pretty fruitful and I learned a lot. I had an extra day in Hiroshima and enjoyed talking with friends. I was down there for the World Cup match between Japan and Cote d’Ivoire. The match was at 10am and made my way to a place I stumbled upon the night before, Raku Beer. I’ll write more about Raku Beer in the future but for now I’ll focus mainly on my experience at the game. Japan is crazy for their team at the World Cup and no matter where you are in Japan you can see the games at almost every sports bar that has a TV. After grabbing a pint at Raku Beer the night before, they said they were showing the game and how could I resist. Raku Beer is a craft beer bar and there was no way I would look for a place showing the game, especially if I knew a place that was showing it and had craft beer!
Raku Beer
For the game, they opened their doors at 9:30 am and I was there soon after. Most of their regulars had reserved a table so I was in the standing section. I did have a seat but it wasn’t the most comfortable seat in the world. They seemed to have a lot of regulars at the bar and they all seemed to know each other too. They had a really cool special where each player was assigned their own beer. It was like betting. If you bought a beer that corresponded to a player that would score a goal, you’d get a free pint of beer. In the first half of the game, I was still really tired and pretty hung over from the night of drinking, but I was able to enjoy the game. I was still out of it but when Keisuke Honda scored, I was so happy and so were the others in the bar. I bought the Minoh Stout at the start of the game, which was Keisuke Honda’s beer, so I got an Italian IPA for free as part of the game.
Minoh Stout @ Raku Beer
I actually didn’t really know of the rules of the game until I went up to the bar for another beer during the half time. They explained the prize beer to me but I was still somewhat out of it; they really recommended the prize beer to me and how could I say no? It wasn’t until they poured a pint for me and they said it was free that I realized what happened. The prize beer was a special Italian craft beer from Beerfist. They served the Space Man IPA which was pretty good. I was happy to get it and happily drank the beer, until part way through the second half. As you know by now, Cote d’Ivoire scored 2 goals in a short time and Japan was out of the game. Japan never really played as strong as they could have and somehow the excitement of the team seemed a little flat. I think they need a good swift kick in the rear as I know they can play a lot better than they did. They have done a lot better in the past but somehow the team is not gelling as fast as they did in the previous World Cup.
Depressed After the Game at Raku Beer
After the game ended, about half of the casual fans left, but the majority of the regulars stayed and had a lot of fun. I was not a regular so I didn’t know anyone and just left the bar after we finished our beers. It was an experience I will never forget and I found my bar in Hiroshima. If I ever live in Hiroshima, heck, if I ever visit Hiroshima again, you’ll be seeing me at this bar often as it is really cool and the people are very knowledgeable about beer. Keep a look out for the full Raku Beer report coming up once I get time to write it.
PS: I’m trying out a new style. What do you think? Better or worse than the older one?
Boohooh…
I miss watching soccer games in pubs, drinking beer in good company.
I almost didn’t watch a single game at home both in 2006 and 2010 (and I missed a few those two years), so this year is quite difficult for me. Missing most games, and the few I see, I watch them in my pajamas, drinking coffee or even nothing, all alone (my wife and daughter sometimes join for the 7am games)
Yup. Really sad. 🙁 😉
I’m actually not watching any more Japan games unless they progress. 7am and 5am are too early for me. I can’t wake up. I might watch another game or two from 1am as it is a good time for me to watch.
You need to find a good bar nearby. 😉
There may be some downtown that are open, but I live too far to go there in the middle of the night or at dawn for a soccer game.
I’m not missing the game tomorrow morning. The other one at 5am might be difficult, but if Japan is not eliminated tomorrow, I may.
The difficult choice for the week-end is that I really want to watch Germany-Ghana, but I also want to go to Ogijima or Teshima is weather permits. I won’t if I stay up parts of the night… I guess the weather forecast will decide for me.
Yeah, that is a bit far (I’m assuming because I don’t really know where you live).
I’ll find out what the score was once I wake up.
Germany-Ghana? No chance I’m watching that. Sometimes 4am is my bedtime. No point sleeping at that point. ^^
Yes, I live about 30 minutes from downtown.
Germany is the team I’ve been rooting for the longest (since 1990, the first time I kinda cared about soccer) and remains one of my favorites (probably my number one favorite this year with the England and Japan debacles – also the Netherlands kick ass too).
And yes, when the World Cup is not in my time zone, it does affect my sleeping schedule a lot.
The hardest will be next week with a bunch of games at 5am (it’s not wise to watch them, but some will be too tempting)
The Germany Portugal game was pretty good to watch. Lots of goals.
I’m at a toss up between the Netherlands and Germany right now. Not sure who to root for. Although I love Italy, the country, so kinda torn whether I should root for them too. Decisions decisions. 🙂
Good luck with the coffee and maybe Red Bull.
I always make a clear distinction between countries and their soccer teams. Case in point: Italy. I love the country. Almost every single Italian I have ever met was a cool person. Yet, I hate the soccer team with a passion.
(on the other hand, I don’t like Spain, I have difficulties getting along with Spanish people and I hate their team too).
I’ll be rooting for both Germany and the Netherlands unless they face each other (in that case, it’ll be difficult, but I think I’ll favor Germany). However, I gotta admit that France got my attention now.
Of course countries and teams are different. Although sometimes it’s just hard to distinguish them and since I have no deep rooted care for most Euro teams, it is hard to distinguish my personal like for a country and my like for the team.
Only thing about France, after the Zidane incident… hard to root for them. Don’t know this year’s team or the team in general, so I really don’t have a real opinion.
Spain, enjoy the team but not loyal at all.
England? Just no knowledge except too many Brits say Rooney sucks. 😀
My only loyalty is Japan now. Hoping for a miracle on Wednesday.
Be careful what you say about the Zidane’s incident (and I’m afraid how the thing has been misinterpreted far from Europe). While it shouldn’t have happened on the field, Zidane’s reaction was legitimate. If I had been Zidane, I would have punched Materazzi in the face, and then kicked him in the nuts while he was on the ground.
In any case, you shouldn’t judge an entire team from such an incident.
I rarely root for France, but if there is one team I rooted for, it was the 2006 team, even more so than the 1998 one.
I was trying to be careful… hence the “I really don’t have a real opinion”. Just hard to root for a team that I have no connection to, no knowledge to, and only remember the Zidane incident. Not sure what really happened there as I didn’t get a chance to hear both sides. Don’t know what was said on the pitch at all.
Back to the games, the Argentina VS Iran game was pretty good last night. They almost blew it too.
Tonight, Belgium VS Russia should be interesting. Although I’d rather watch US VS Portugal. US VS Portugal is more important for both countries but somehow I like the “Red Devils” are the underdogs for the Euro teams.
What bothers me with the Zidane incident, is that I feel that it was all what North American was talking about after it happened, while most people who had a strong opinion about it had never even heard about Zidane beforehand.
In short Materazzi had been grabbing Zidane’s shirt all game long, partly to slow him down and bother him (one of the many dirty tricks the Italian team is a specialist of), partly because he knew Zidane was a hot head and that he’d lose his cool sooner or later.
At some point, Zidane said to Materazzi: if you want my shirt so bad, I’ll give it to you at the end of the game, to which Materazzi replied (I forgot the exact quote): “it’s not your shirt that I want you to give me, it’s your sister” to which Zidane responded with a headbutt.
I don’t approve of the action on the field (especially because it basically lost us the Cup), but I approve of Zidane’s reaction (I just wish he had waited until after the game).
For tonight, I’ll watch USA-Portugal. I never really cared for Belgium and Russia, while the US is a team that I like when I’m not near any of its fan (most obnoxious fans in the world in my opinions, everything has to be about nationalism, war undertones and all that with Americans), and Portugal is a team I strongly dislike and I hope it will follow Spain’s steps.
Thanks for the Zidane clarification. Since I was here during that incident, I just watched it and didn’t get a lot of the back story. On the pitch, shouldn’t do that though, but I can understand the feelings and the reasoning. He will still be, unfortunately, remembered for the head butt.
I ended up watching neither game, but I did watch the Spain VS Australia match. Seemed like they missed a couple off-sides. Poor Australia.
Only hope S. Korea doesn’t advance. Just the rivalry between Japan and S. Korea. If Japan can’t make it, I hope they don’t either. 😀
Now if only Japan can win by at least 2 goals tomorrow morning.
Well Zidane will be remember for that by people who don’t care all that much about soccer. For people who do, he’s being remembered as one of the best players if not the best player of the turn of the century. 🙂
I watched large parts of Netherlands – Chile, but as the game was somewhat boring and I was very sleepy, I ended up going to be before the end… Of course, as I kinda was expecting it, the Netherlands scored its first goal minutes after I turned the TV off.
Isn’t South Korea already virtually out? They need to beat Belgium by a larger margin than Russia beating Algeria… Won’t happen.
Then again, Japan is also virtually out, you forget that beyond the more than two goals, Japan also needs Cote d’Ivoire to lose to Greece (very unlikely to happen too).
I’m not gonna watch the game though. I need to get a full night of sleep, especially if I want to watch France tomorrow, and Germany on Thursday.
Considering I only started to really get into the World Cup and football from the last World Cup, I doubt I’ll remember Zidane for anything more than the head butt. 🙁 Only because I was never really educated about pro football before that. Thanks for teaching me, football sensei. 😉
S. Korea is almost out, but it looks like they are in the same boat as Japan. They need a good win over a good team and a little luck.
I didn’t forget about the need of Cote d’Ivoire needing to lose as well. A tie is possible too. If Greece works hard to prevent Cote d’Ivoire from winning and just tie, then Japan just has to hope that Colombia is resting their big players and can score a couple goals as Colombia doesn’t need to worry about the game at all.
Too many options though. My head hurts. 😉
Have fun with the France game, then Germany. I think Germany may take it this year. Brazil are still odds on favourite to win, from the odds makers I think.