FC Tokyo Supporters' Chants

In an earlier post I described how one goes about buying tickets to football matches in Japan. Once I had gotten over this initial hump and the process became easy, I went to a few more games over the last couple of months.

The club I chose to follow is FC Tokyo, one of the two 2nd division J League clubs from Tokyo itself. There's actually - if you count both 1st and 2nd divisions - a bunch of clubs that play in the Kanto region that Tokyo is part of, including this season's J1 champions Kashiwa Reysol, as well as the more storied clubs Urawa Reds and Kashima Antlers. My reasons for going with FC Tokyo were in part simply due to laziness - they play their home games not far from where I live - and also because theirs was the first game I went to, removing from my fandom contention the other local club Tokyo Verdy. (Of course, the fact that halfway through my first game I found out FC Tokyo were well-placed to win promotion back to J1, that was never really a factor.)

Anyway, here I'll share some of the chants that I've learned and recorded.

You'll Never Walk Alone
I know, kind of lame, but this is what the supporters sing before the start of every game. Didn't feel the urge to hit record on this one but here's a picture. It wouldn't be Japanese if it weren't done karaoke-style, with the lyrics up on the jumbotron.

Tokyo Koso Subete

Tokyo koso subete, orerawo atsukusuru
(Tokyo for sure all of us can feel the heat)       
Jounetsuwo butsukero, yusho tsukamitore
(Let's attack with passion and grab victory)
Vamos Tokyo, vamos Tokyo
Vamos Tokyo, vamos Tokyo

Vamos of course being Spanish for "let's go".

This particular instance was right after the last home game of this season. Tokyo had already won promotion to the top level the week before so here after the game ended they went up to the home supporters to celebrate and pose for photos.


Nemuranai Machi

Tokyo, Tokyo, nemuranai machi
(Tokyo, Tokyo, the city that never sleeps)
Ao to aka no, orera no hokori, whoa!
(In blue and red is our pride)

This chant is sung as the final seconds are running out but only if Tokyo are winning.


Melissa

Oretachino oh Tokyo
(Our Tokyo)
Sa yuko sekai mezashi
(Come let's go towards the goal)

Melissa is originally a song by the Japanese band Porno Graffitti. It's also the theme song for a manga series called Fullmetal Alchemist. This chant just borrows the tune, I'm not sure if there's some other connection. You can listen to the original song here.


La Edogawa / O Cesar Ohh

Tatakae oreno Tokyo,
(Fight, our Tokyo)
Kyo mo shouri o shinjite
(Today again we believe you'll win)
Hajikeyou, Tobitakyu
(Blow it open at Tobitakyu) 
Makeru wake wa nai sa
(There's no way we'll lose)

Tobitakyu is the name of the train station closest to the Ajinomoto Stadium, one of two stadiums where FC Tokyo plays its home games (and yes, same Ajinomoto as the food flavoring/coloring company). With this chant, as I was recording it a goal was scored by Tokyo's Brazilian striker Roberto Cesar, prompting the crowd to break into "O Cesar Ohh".


Vamos Vamos Tokyo

Vamos vamos Tokyo
Vamos Tokyo, vamos Tokyo

Pretty simple, nothing to it really.


Aishteru Tokyo

Aishteru Tokyo, lalalalalala
(I love you Tokyo, lala...)
Aishteru Tokyo, lalalalalala
Aishteru Tokyo, lala-la-lala-la-la

This is set to the tune of Frankie Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off You.


Verdy Dakeniha Makerarenai

Verdy dakeniha, makerarenai
(There's no way we'll lose to Verdy)
Oretachino chikara, misete yarouze
(Let's show them our strength)

This chant is specific to derby rivals Tokyo Verdy. I find it a little endearing how it is only mildly antagonistic.


Minna De Utao

Oh oreno Tokyo, hokori o mochi
(We have pride in our Tokyo)
Tachi agatte minna de utao
(Everybody let's sing together)
La la la la la...


Coffee Rumba

Ole ole ole ole ole ole Tokyo
Tachi agare tobi hanero
(Let's stand up and jump up and down)
Kyo wa makerarenai hida
( Today isn't the day we're going to lose)
Tobe sakebe oreno Tokyo
(Let's jump and shout for our Tokyo)

One of my favorite chants. The tune is borrowed from a song called Moliendo Cafe by Venezuelan musician Hugo Blanco. In Japan the tune came to be known as Coffee Rumba, and has been covered by a bunch of different people. There are two versions in particular that I really like. One is by two ladies playing the marimba in Ueno Park, while the other is an acoustic guitar version by the band Ohho.

So there you have it. This list of chants is by no means comprehensive, only those I've been able to work out so far. I hope to go to more games next season and record more stuff. Especially since because of being back in J1 there should be bigger crowds and a better atmosphere overall.

Buying Tickets to a 'Sakka' Match

I had an interesting experience the first time I went to buy tickets to a football - or 'sakka' (soccer; in Japanese: サッカー) - match in Tokyo. I had been wanting to go ever since finding out that Tokyo had 2 club teams playing in the J League 2nd Division. These being FC Tokyo, who got demoted from J1 last season, and Tokyo Verdy. So one weekend I found out FC Tokyo were playing Yokohama FC at home, and I decided I'd go check it out. Yokohama is just south of Tokyo, about half an hour by train. It's also the 2nd most populous city in Japan. All signs pointed to a healthy derby-like atmosphere.

The game was being played at the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium, which isn't too far from where I live. So the day before the game I walked over moon utha kay, thinking there probably would be a booth or office where I could buy tickets in advance. I looked at the map outside the stadium and started walking towards the information center marked on it.

The national stadium is also a track and field center so there were a bunch of runners doing their drills outside. This stadium held the IAAF World Championships in 1991 for which they still have the leaderboard outside. And one of my favorite athletes' name is right at the top. It was here in 1991 that Carl Lewis ran the 100 meters in 9.86 seconds to set a new world record, which stood for about 3 years. According to Lewis this was the best race he'd ever run.

Leaderboard for Tokyo '91 outside the National Stadium

Anyway after getting a bit sidetracked I finally made my way to the information center. There in my broken Japanese I expressed my desire to buy tickets to the next day's game. But I was very politely told they didn't sell tickets there. One of the ladies behind the desk looked up something on her computer for a couple of minutes and then came to me with a number written on a sticky note with 'Loppi code' written next to it. At first I thought it might be a phone number I needed to call, which would be a real pain to do on my own. But then she said something about Lawson convenience stores, and entering the code she gave me in a Loppi machine. At least that's what I think she said as I only understood about 50% of it.

Lawson stores as I mentioned in an earlier post are everywhere. There are two within a 5-minute walk from my apartment, and luckily there was one right next to the stadium as well, so I didn't have to walk far.

Now, inside each store there is this machine that looks like an ATM called the Loppi.

It's all touch screen, and the big button on the left seemed to say something about entering codes so I pressed that.

I then entered the number the lady had given me. This pulled up another screen with match information. The date and team names matched what I wanted (not in this example, I took these pictures when I went to buy tickets for a different game) so I just hit the button to go to the next screen.

Next the machine asked me what stand I wanted tickets for, giving the various price options. (If tickets have sold out it doesn't let you go beyond this point; if they're still available it asks you how many you want.) Once I made my selection, it asked me to enter my name in Japanese, and then my phone number.

Finally, after confirming all the details, it printed out a receipt. I took this receipt to the store counter where they processed it. My tickets printed right there and then, I paid for them at the counter, and that was that.

It all sounds pretty simple now that I've done it a few times, and it's super convenient. You can buy tickets to just about anything from this machine: sports events, concerts, movies, plays, etc. Each event has its own unique Loppi code, the trick is being able to find the code online, navigating at times Japanese-only websites. But once you have the code then it's just a question of whether tickets are still available or not. Like for example I tried to buy tickets for the recently concluded FIFA Club World Cup but within a few days of going on sale they had all sold out. Or tomorrow FC Tokyo are playing in the quarter finals of the Emperor's Cup (Japan's equivalent of the Copa del Rey or the FA Cup) and that sold out pretty quickly as well.

Just another one of those things where now that you know how its done you wouldn't think to do it any other way. But learning the process itself is the challenge.

Anyway the game itself was fun. Tokyo ran out easy 3-0 winners over Yokohama. Though the derby-like atmosphere I had hoped for wasn't really there. Or well not by Spanish or English derby standards anyway. There's definitely home and away supporter sections, each with their respective chants (more on FC Tokyo chants in a following post), but true to norms of politeness everything was done in a very civil manner. For example, when a Yokohama player was subbed in the 2nd half, he got an ovation from all sections of the stadium, there was no booing or jeering.