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Celebrating Japan’s Historic Win Over Germany at World Cup 2022

The highlights of Samurai Blue Fever on Twitter

Did anyone expect Japan to beat Germany?

In the Group of Death (Group E) at the World Cup 2022, Japan seemed unlikely to survive the knockout stage. However, against huge odds, Samurai Blue members unveiled their talents and brought Japan an unexpected result—an astounding 2–1 win!

Even though Germany quickly found their feet and dominated the game, scoring with a first-half penalty, Ritsu Dōan scored the equalizer, and Takuma Asano scored the winner both as substitutes!

So, here is the picture of the year. An otter named Taiyō at Maxell Aqua Park Shinagawa knew this win was coming. It shot a mini soccer ball into the blue bucket and predicted Japan’s win.

Another cute moment was when this fan thanked his boss from the stands at Khalifa Stadium. We definitely need more understanding bosses to support Samurai Blue, right?

It was the same day Saudi Arabia went on an impulsive national holiday after its seismic win over Argentina. Soccer fans in Japan were expectant the next morning, and 祝日のはず (shukujitsu no hazu, it must be a national holiday) trended on Japan’s Twitter.

Some have gone as far as creating a sketch of PM Kishida declaring a national holiday and posted it as if it’s in a real English textbook.

Well, unfortunately, we ended up wondering why the trains were crowded during rush hour and people were working as usual though it should have been a holiday all day long.

Still, finding people’s tweets honoring Japanese fans cleaning the stadium after the match helped us Konmari our unfulfilled wishes to keep celebrating the win at the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

That’s because even the superheroes of the match never skip cleaning up their locker room. Tidy as a monk, wild as a jaguar — you did the jaguar pose along with Asano, didn’t you?—Japan is unstoppable!🔥

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