In Japan, basuburu kicks out soccer fever

Waiting for the bus into town at Narita, I was behind a man in his 70s with a pile of suitcases in a large cart beside him. Suddenly he started taking them off the cart and putting them on the sidewalk. I asked him why. “It saves time, we can all move faster”, he said, declining my offer to help.

The ride into Tokyo was about an hour of fast driving on totally empty highways. Then, as we entered the town, I saw the most bizarre sight: it was past 11 pm and there were whole office blocks with their lights on, I could see people inside still at work.

The difference is there in the newspapers too. Crime stories were totally absent in Korean English-language dailies. Here, it even made it on to Page 1: A woman poisoning her lover by feeding him curry. And whereas it’s football all the way in Korea, there’s a whole sports page devoted to baseball, Japan’s number one sport (they call it basuburu).

Much of it was about the US leagues, of course, but there was also a fair bit devoted to the one currently under way in Japan. In Korea, where it is also the top sport, baseball has been pushed out of contention by football, especially after Korea’s win earlier this week.

This is one I had to see for myself. You know about the loos here, don’t you. About the toilet seats that warm up to the desired temperature at the touch of a button. It makes a big difference, really it does (and this is summer in Japan).

You may even know that at the touch of another button (the whole panel is located to your right, as you sit, at calf-height) you can have a jet of warm water wash hit you where you need it? Something like what we have in India, but more controlled. Okay, you know all this but here’s something new: there are separate buttons for men and women. Apparently it is anatomically necessary.

So you press button 1 if you’re male, 2 if you’re not. I haven’t tried out option 2 but a friend who has (and refuses to be named said there’s almost no difference). The Japanese are the great inventors of leisure activities but I thought this took the cake.

Finally met some fellow Indians passionate enough about football to spend good money on it. Umesh Malhotra, an IIT graduate and now a computer engineer in Bangalore, has brought his wife and son to Korea and now Japan to enjoy the World Cup.

It’s a chance, he says, for his son (7-8 years old) to learn to love the game and also do some sightseeing. They haven’t stinted on the budget; just the tickets alone, for three people for three matches, have set them back around $1800. Add to that the hotel stays and three days in Disneyland and you’re talking a small fortune. But it’s already paid off: his son is now a confirmed soccer nut. Join the gang!