From Ponchos to Honchos

As I arrived at the crack of noon at the station to get my free hour's ration of the Internet, there was another "green army" gathering. These were the Mexicans, resplendent in colourful sombreros and ponchos, who were due to play Croatia. Some of the Croatian fans I met seemed to love the Irish because they think we're all Catholics.

At the Media Internet Cafe several Mexican fans were trying desperately to obtain tickets for the game—unsuccessfully, of course. The usual message that the servers were loaded kept popping up. I couldn't get near a machine, so I headed for the Honcho Market for some grub.

Money Makes the World Go Round

Had to change money, and inquired at one of the many information stands set up for World Cup visitors where this could be done (these stands are all over the place). As usual when the middle-aged ladies who man (woman?) these stands can't immediately reply to a question they went into a flurry and as none of them could speak a word of English they sought the help of a supervisor type, who was cycling around on the footpath distributing copies of the Yellow Pages. He wasn't sure either, but, handing his stack of Yellow Pages and bike over to the ladies, he motioned me to follow, and set off in a determined manner to the local police box (called a koban and staffed by three officers). Here we obtained precise instructions from the officer in charge.

Settling into his supervisory role, the Yellow Pages disributor then marched me off at a brisk pace to the bank, which took another twenty minutes. Inside the door stood a woman whose only function was to bow courteously and welcome all customers and thank them as they left (a formality repeated by the uniformed security guard outside)--how she managed to keep smiling all day I'll never know. Once inside the bank I had to take a number but didn't have to wait as the foreign-exchange window was free. However, I had to produce my passport, fill in a form and wait ten minutes for the transaction to be completed. Well, after all that I needed a drink, and encountered...

Japan's Flat Beer

I was confused by the price differences in cans of Japanese beer (I usually bought Asahi or Kirin). Some .5 litre cans of beer cost 150-180 yen, whereas other cans of the same brand cost 250-280 yen. I usually bought the cheaper can, not great beer, but fine to drink. Now, according to an article in the Herald Tribune, I find that what I was drinking was happoshu (which means "fizzy liquor"). This is a low-alcohol beverage that looks and tastes like beer, but has practically no malt. It was introducesd in 1994 as a way of dodging a hefty tax on beer, which the government defines as containing more than 66.7 percent malt. As the economy worsened, consumers took to the low-priced beverage. Its share of the market is expected to hit 40% this year.

The Beautiful Game

Watched the Group G Croatia-Mexico game in a special facility set up to display the live games close circuit on a large screen. It fitted around 200 and was two-thirds full.

Took a take-away sea-food meal back to the hotel with the intention of watching the Group C Brazil-Turkey game there, but after flicking frantically around all available stations, realized the game (played in Korea) was not being shown on national TV, but on pay-per-view! I later understood that on certain occasions (when the planets are correctly aligned, the wind is blowing in the right direction, etc.) a game is shown on national TV...

After wolfing down the meal, took a taxi to the Milan Sports bar in the Lion Tower.

There I met Ivan, an English teacher from Leicester, caught up too in the scrabble for tickets (in his case, for the England-Argentina game) and together we watched the Brazil-Turkey game. The results of the day were:

In Group G Mexico beat Croatia 1-0 (a penalty, taken after Blanco was brought down in front of goal, and scored by Blanco) and in the same group Italy beat Ecuador 2-0.

In Group C Brazil beat Turkey 2-1 (Rivaldo and Ronaldo scored). Brazil scored the winner three minutes from time from a very doubtful penalty. Rivaldo's ridiculous reaction after Hakan Unsal kicked the ball at him in injury-time sparked mayhem; the ball slapped against Rivaldo's thigh, prompting him to collapse and roll around by the corner flag clutching his face. The Turk, already booked, joined his team-mate Alpay Ozalan in being shown red. Rivaldo was later fined by FIFA for this action.