Big soccer enthusiasts in South Africa

by Nozomi U.
(Tokyo, Japan)

Last year, the 19th FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa. Japan caught the cheerful World Cup mood, and people were excited by the games and were rejoicing as if Japan won the competition every time we won a game.

‘Vuvuzela’ might be one of the most talked about things of this competition. There is a custom that supporters blow a vuvuzela for cheering at the game in South Africa. But the noise from a vuvuzela is so loud, it ended up obstructing the game.

Then it became the symbolic scene at the 19th FIFA World Cup that supporters from all the countries blew a vuvuzela and the sound resounded in the whole stadium.

Even in Japan, it was recognized widely so that application of vuvuzela was made with application of iPhones during the competition. Although I'm a soccer fan, I was irritated at the noise 'cause I couldn’t hear the sound of the whistle from the referee at the beginning. But a little bit of a friendly feeling sprang out when it was over.

Because the volume of this sound was the size of the thoughts of the South African people to the players.