Our flight from Vladivostok took only 2 hours and brought us to Narita airport. Our new friend Yusak was also travelling to Yokohama, so we followed him all the way.
Yusak invited us for a few drinks that night with his friends, after watching the New Zealand vs South Africa game in the Yokohama fan-zone, we joined him in an Izakaya. These are Japanese bars which you can find everywhere. They serve beer and delicious, salty Japanese snacks. It was amazing.
That night we stayed in our hostel nearby. They had pod style beds, where you sleep in a cozy personal cabin.
The next day we met Danu and Conny, who were also on holidays in Japan. It was great to see some familiar faces again. It was also great to get our tickets for the game that day. Our tickets had arrived in Switzerland while we were travelling. Luckily, Danu and Conny agreed to bring them with. We went to another Izakaya to get breakfast and a few beers!
After our breakfast beers we parted ways and made our way to the stadium. The efficiency of Japanese rail made it very easy to get there. After arriving in Shin-Yokohama station we had a 10 minute walk to the stadium itself. At this point there was a large procession of Irish and Scottish fans making their way, beers in hand and spirits on high.
After arriving we decided to get a beer. This proved to be much more difficult than we expected. The first shock was that it was 1000 JPY for a beer, that’s roughly 10 euro or 10 CHF! After accepting the price we then had to accept the queue. For some reason, the bars did not have kegs, they were pouring beers from Heineken cans. Worse than that, they were pouring from small cans! So in order to pour a pint, they would have to open two cans. After about 20 minutes in the queue, the game had nearly started and we had to leave. This was a painful beginning to the game. After all the talk before the world cup about making sure to provide enough beer for the very beer thirsty rugby fans, it seemed odd that they didn’t have kegs and taps.
We made our way to our seats and were presented with an amazing view. We were quite far back, but it was fantastic all the same.
The beer problem was also quickly solved as there were people walking up and down the aisles serving beer directly to the seats. For about 700 JPY we could get a small beer.
After the beer problem was solved, there was just the Scotland problem remaining. Luckily this was deftly handled by the lads. Ireland put in a powerful and clinical performance and Scotland were unusually week, many handling errors meant that possession was given back to Ireland far too often. At half time Ireland were up 19 – 3.
The rain started in the second half and essentially killed the game. Chasing a 16 point lead was made almost impossible for Scotland in the heavy rain. A try by Andrew Conway sealed the deal for Ireland, and provided a valuable bonus point.
The game ended 27-3 to Ireland. A brilliant beginning to the world cup and to our trip in Japan!
For anyone interested, here are the highlights from the game.
Great commentary 👏
Thank you! I have many talents 😛