Again, I have not written on here for absolutely ages - but I have been keeping a relatively up-to-date handwritten diary which will end up on here as soon as I find a scanner!
So England are out of the World Cup. I am going to be working World Cup final night, as I have no interest in watching anyone who's left in it now! But how many people can say that their first 3 football matchs were the England vs Nigeria group match, the England vs Denmark 2nd round match and the England vs Brazil quarter final? We had tickets for the first two which by a little bit of luck and a lot of determined reapplying we managed to get through FIFA way back in March. We also bought tickets for the quarter final in Osaka in case England won the group. Luckily for us, we found someone on the internet with spare tickets for the England vs Brazil quarter final in Shizuoka, who wanted to do a direct swap for our Osaka (Senegal vs Turkey) ones!!!!
The week of the England-Nigeria game in Osaka, we were helping out BBC Radio Five Live with local Osaka knowledge and my amazingly wonderful (not) interpreting and navigation abilities! It was really good fun working with the team that were doing Victoria Derbyshire's breakfast show, and it was interesting to see how it was all put togther. In the evenings we took them to all our favourite drinking, dancing and eating spots - pictures of Ryugu sushi bar even ended up on the internet! James was interviewed by Victoria after the match and was told by Nicky Campbell he could come back anytime hehe! The first day, we broadcasted from Peace Cafe on the Midosuji (main street in Osaka). Its a nice little place with an open wooden veranda which sells yummy Greek salads and quiches etc. I nipped out to the chemist's, and while James was sitting there with the team, Zoe Ball and Fatboy Slim walked along and stopped for a chat! A few of our mates saw them in various places around Osaka too. We also broadcast from Murphy's Irish bar, and then on the day of the England match, we went to "Otter Tail", a cafe which sells meals for dogs as well as for people - along with fancy collars and World Cup sweaters for your dog! It was a lovely little place and right next to the stadium. All around the stadium were people selling things - I bought a t-shirt saying "I am not a hooligan!" The atmosphere in the stadium was good, but it would have been better if there had been any goals! The whole stadium was filled with red and white, with just a pocket of Nigerian fans. After the match they all walked past Otter Tail, and were really friendly. Some of them were in national dress and some had drums.
I was also interviewed by a Japanese TV station, although I never got to see myself on television, unfortunately. The night before the England match, we went with Radio 5 to watch the Ireland and Germany matches at a Sports Bar. There was a phonecall from this TV company, asking if there were any Japanese-speaking gaijin in the bar, so they passed the phone over to me, and I ended up being interviewed and filmed the next day after the match! We also had our picture taken by numerous Japanese fans and press photographers as we stood outside the stadium with a group of friends and painting each others' faces!
That night Osaka was swarming with England fans, all singing and dancing and drinking. We took Radio Five to eat Yakiniku, and the little man with bad teeth who owns the place seemed to remember me and James, and seemed pretty pleased that we had made a booking for so many people. One of the lads hung up his "Burnley FC" Union Jack up, and the owner came along and sang "Happy Birthday" to England???!!!! He then gave us some free pineapple and two bottles of wine - and then insisted one coming out dancing with us. Fortunatly we lost him in a crowd of England fans on the Midosuji Boulevard! Throughout the World Cup, people in Osaka have been jumping off the bridge into the Dotomburi canal after matches, particularly the Japan games. One of our friends decided to try it, and was sick every day for about a wekk afterwards. Urgh!