Ode to Japan

Day -824. WorldCup2018.

Today marks 5 years since the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and killed, or left missing, more than 18,000 people. The enormity of the tragedy is beyond comprehension to most of us even though we watched video after video of waves sweeping through villages destroying everything in their path. For the survivors, the live witnesses of what we watched on our TVs on the other side of the world must be a memory that will never leave them. And they are still dealing with life changing consequences.

And so how do I mark such a day? In one of the only ways I know how, through something that is easier for me to understand and marks a happier day for Japan: the 2002 World Cup which Japan co-hosted with South Korea. Both countries were proud to be the first Asian hosts of the World Cup and the pride showed through in the massive passionate support in all the matches they played in.

On June 9th 2002, after an opening 2-2 draw with Belgium, Japan played Russia. A win against one of the stronger, yet admittedly unpredictable, World Cup teams would put Japan in a very strong position to make it into the second round for the first time, in only their second World Cup. A goal early in the second half gave them that win and they followed it up with another win against Tunisia to send the country into World Cup heaven.

Do the tragic events of five years ago put football, and sport, into perspective. Should we, can we, celebrate sport when faced with memories of tragedies like this? I cannot really provide a justifiable answer. So, instead, I will quote from Simon Barnes, for many years the chief sportswriter at the The Times (of London). This was his reaction when he was in New York for the U.S. Open tennis, and happened to come across the events marking the third anniversary of September 11. He had the same dilemma and and answered it thus (in hindsight after later that day he watched Tim Henman get "killed" by Roger Federer, "who did not, of course, die at all"):

"And no, it didn't put sport in perspective. Sport is already in perspective. I don't claim any privileged insight in saying this: everybody in the world who watches sport has sport in perspective. If sport wasn't in perspective it would be meaningless. Sport is not supposed to be real life: it is something different."
(The Meaning of Sport, Simon Barnes, 2006)