It has been an enjoyable past few days where I got to experience different football stadiums throughout Japan. While I have only visited four stadiums outside of Okinawa, each one has been a great experience that has created lasting memories. In this entry I will cover the Shiranami Stadium where Kagoshima United FC play, the Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium for Kawasaki Frontale and finally the NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Football Stadium where I witnessed Yokohama F Marinos play a recent Levain Cup match.
Also, please see the excellent blog by Lost In Football, lostinfootballjapan.com (@LiFJapan) for more reading on visiting stadiums throughout Japan. These are very good reads for someone who has’t attend a match outside of their home stadium.
I think the Shiranami stadium has one of the best backdrops in all of football. Sakurajima, an active volcano here in Japan, sits directly behind the stadium and when you are watching Kagoshima on DAZN it is readily visible, or if you are in attendance, you can get a great photo of Sakurajima in the background.
There are many similarities between the way Kagoshima and FC Ryukyu set up the outsides and insides of their respective stadiums. I suppose that makes sense since both are newly promoted teams with smaller operating budgets compared to the more seasoned clubs of J1 & J2. For instance, there are a large number of food vendors contained to one side of the stadium, usually the main entrance, and limited vendors inside the grounds. FC Ryukyu does have a food and beverage vendor inside the A Section of their stadium that services both home and away fans, but the Shiranami stadium does not. This made it cumbersome when wanting to grab water, soda, beer or food on that hot day because you were forced, as an away fan, to walk a great distance to the vendors away from your entry gate. There was also the issue that there was no hand soap in the bathrooms at the stadium. This is something that I’ve brought to the attention of FC Ryukyu since it is a minor health issue when there are food vendors using those facilities and not washing their hands and then proceed to serve food items.
Inside the stadium we were greeted with some nice local Shochu samples and a very raucous home support section. Shiranami stadium is another one of those track & field/football pitch combinations but the high vantage point we had in the away section provided a nice view. It was really hot during the match and I assume like FC Ryukyu, Kagoshima will be playing their matches during the summer months at much later start times. If not, that could make for a difficult atmosphere for visiting teams not accustomed to such heat. Even though FC Ryukyu lost 1-0, it was a great experience overall and one I look forward to attending in the future.
The next match I was able to attend was the Asian Champions League Group Stage match between Kawasaki Frontale and Ulsan during the mid-week. Ulsan was the last team I got to see in this competition last year when I traveled to their stadium and saw them play Shanghai SIPG. The scenes surrounding the Todoroki Stadium was great as there were flags flying off of light poles and nearly everyone was dressed in the Blue and Black of Kawasaki. I bought this ticket directly from the J League website and it was actually quite easy. There was a little information you are required to fill out but they accept foreign credit cards and the ticket was waiting for me at the Will Call.
It was a little tough navigating where my seat was since I had never been to this stadium, but unlike most stadiums where there was open seating, this time you were assigned an actual seat number. A gentleman was kind enough to direct me to my seat and it was ideally situated between the home supporters’ section and the back of the goal. The people sitting in my vicinity were great, and especially more so after I showed them some of the pictures of me in all my FC Ryukyu regalia, and they enjoyed the fact that I had traveled so far to support their club.
The game was awesome for a neutral as there were 3 first half goals followed by some late game drama that saw Kawasaki end the match with a draw. Ultimately it may have knocked them out of the ACL and that’s a shame since they are the current champions of Japan.
The sights and sounds emanating from the supporter’s section were top notch. I heard many of the same songs that the FC Ryukyu supporter section sings during a match and when there are so many voices singing loudly in unison it really enhances the overall atmosphere. Since this was the first time that I’ve seen a J1 Team in the flesh, it will be very hard for me not to keep an eye on their standing and highlights for the remainder of my time here in Japan.
I concluded my 3rd match in 4 days with the Levain Cup Group Stage Match between Yokoham F Marinos and Shonan Bellmare at the NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Football Stadium. This was not the main ground that Yokohoma play in and I wonder if its by design since mid-week matches maybe more sparsely attended than those on the weekend. Therefore, if you have less seats to fill, the stadium looks fuller. Only 5,100 people attended this game but the stadium felt full. Navigating to the stadium proved a bit troublesome for me and is something I feel needs to be fixed prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I am unfamiliar with the Japanese rail and bus system and there were times where I was confused on where to go and how to avoid major delays. The last leg included taking a bus and it was the most difficult part, because unlike the trains that were listed on Google by platform, I had no idea what line to stand in to grab the numbered bus I needed to get to the grounds. It was just by chance that a bus pulled up that was heading directly to the stadium and I made it just in time for kickoff.
I also purchased this ticket via the J League website and unlike the ACL match where I had to pick the ticket up, this was delivered electronically as a “QR” code to my phone. However, it didn’t indicate which entrance I needed so I wasted a little time “gate hopping” until I found the right one. Again, if you’re more familiar with the stadium and seating then this may not be the case, but for the neutral outsider whose only language is English, it was slightly challenging.
I could not have asked for a better seat though as I was only 3 rows up from the pitch and this smaller venue was not a track & field/ football pitch combination. I really love that feeling of being so close to the action and though there wasn’t a ton of space between each seat, it was a spectacular view. The Yokohoma support section was in full voice throughout the match and they sounded great. Shonan also had a large contingent of supporters show up and it was great to watch the match inside the match between each supporters’ section. Whenever Shonan could be heard, usually during a break in the signing of Yokohama, or when there was a break in the match, the Yokohama supporters would immediately spring into action and break out in song so as to drown out the noise emanating from the other supporters.
The match was special for me as well as I was hoping to catch a glimpse of both Park and Nakagawa, former FC Ryukyu players now with Yokohama, but neither appeared in the match. Park is out with a nasty injury to his orbital bone and Nakagawa was an unused substitute on the day. I thought there were going to be more goals as neither teams’ defense looked particularly effective yet most of the chances that either side created were wasted on the day. Marinos did pull out the victory after they converted a saved PK but it wasn’t the goal fest I was hoping to see.
I did get to see Nakagawa and give him a shout, that included FC Ryukyu being mixed in, and he smiled, waved and went about his business. It was nice to see the tradition of Marinos fans where they raise some umbrellas after the team wins and sing some song that I am unfamiliar with. The people sitting around me must’ve wondered what the hell I was doing but I didn’t really care. Those same people were friendly throughout the match and very gracious in allowing a large American to move past them to his seat. I really loved the small stadium as well as the proximity of the fans to the pitch. I really hope that this is what FC Ryukyu is planning for their new stadium in Naha in the future. A 15,000-seat stadium with no track would be so welcoming and ideal for the club.
There are not too many negative things I can say about any of the stadiums I visited this past week outside of the lack of hand soap at both Kagoshima and Yokohama. But after using the public transit system restrooms during my travels, I see this is a systemic problem out here. I would also add, that at no time as an away fan, did I ever feel threatened or concerned for my safety during the match. This speaks highly of the Japanese people as there is absolutely no place in football for violence among the fans inside, outside or surrounding the stadium. The fact that most home fans are glad to see away supporters show up, especially from great distances like Okinawa, is why I try to reciprocate the same inviting and welcoming experience when I see away fans visit Okinawa.
I would encourage anyone as both a supporter of a J league side or as a neutral to attend a match away from your home stadium. It is great to see a game in another town as well as experience a little bit of the culture depending on the time you allotted. I hope to get to a few more matches this year and will certainly write about my experiences and provide some photographs.
ryukyuarmy.com 