In search of Japanese soccer

After an unprecedented natural disaster destroyed parts of the nation and its people in March 2011, Japan continued to grieve and a kind of somber spirit swept the country. In July of that year, a ray of hope emerged. The national women's soccer team won the FIFA World Cup and brought home the trophy for the first time.

While it was already wonderful to see them compete, the achievement won by the Japanese women's soccer team, the Nadeshiko, brought unexpected joy to the nation. They unexpectedly won the final match against the U.S. team, with an equalizer within the last four minutes, and finally in a shootout. The Nadeshiko's teamwork was seen as a microcosm of the collective consciousness of the nation with which the Japanese tried to overcome the tragedy.

The Japanese were also awarded praise from the international community that year, which helped us to regain our pride as well. One might add that it was the stoic and selfless attitude the Japanese displayed during the aftermath of the enormous disaster that enabled unquestioning solidarity characteristic of my country's indomitable spirit.

I saw this manifested in different forms by my compatriots in Brazil this year. I was puzzled to see the Japanese supporters shaking blue trash bags as balloons until I found out that they stuffed them with the trash left in the stadium after the game. The Japanese fans were very accepting of the men's team's failure to repeat 2010's achievement of advancing to the knockout stage.

On the pitches in Brazil, the Blue Samurais could not engage with the aggressive soccer they envisaged. They were lulled into a dogmatic slumber of defensive soccer by losing vision and confidence very early in the event. I wondered whether the team could snap out of it if we had a shockingly bold player like the type that bites or head-butts an opponent.

Some players apologized for the loss to the head coach despite the fact that he had absurdly tamed the aggressive approach that the team had championed the last four years.

Unanimity alone may not solve the kinds of problems Japan as a nation faces today. For example, when an opinionated person displays open disagreement about nuclear issues that the tsunami disclosed, he or she is often unwelcomed by unspoken cultural complacency. But for the Japanese team to play good soccer, collective consciousness can be the way, especially when Japan lacks a dominant striker like other nations have.

Tomoyuki Yabe teaches Japanese at Queens College in New York City.