This year has seen three Premier League clubs make their way over from the UK for one or two games each. Brighton have a big-name Japanese player in their side so that made sense. Spurs are considered one of the big six teams in England and have a Korean superstar player who seems very popular in Japan. As for Newcastle, well I’m really not sure about their appeal over here so there was only one way to find out.

Their main connection to Japan is their 2018 signing Yoshinori Muto but his departure in 2021 brought about a disappointing three years on Tyneside. Managerial and culture changes, a tough language barrier and the expectations from his home country were all factors that weighed heavy on his shoulders according to this article.

Maybe Newcastle gained some fans in Japan during his tenure and they actually stuck with the club after he departed. As I said in my Spurs matchday experience post it is difficult to know how much support some teams have here as Japanese people don’t wear football shirts as leisure items which is often the easiest way of gaging popularity of some kind. Or maybe locals just like the Premier League or know it’s a big deal and really get on board for any match involving an English club.

My initial thought was to watch the second game of Newcastle’s Japan summer tour  against Yokohama F. Marinos but I then realised I had a day off work on the date of their first match against Urawa Reds. The Marinos match was at Japan National Stadium but having been there a lot recently I thought a change of scenery might be good so decided to attend the match up in Saitama instead.

It also give me the chance to meet and catch up with my friend Yuki who I watched the Asian Champions League final (2nd leg) with in May last year. We met up very early for this match (nearly three hours before kick off!) so I didn’t really think about how noticably quiet it was on the Wembley Way-like walk to the stadium from Urawa-misono station compared to a weekend J1 league game.

The merchandise is what these occasions are all about about and the souvenir tent was doing a roaring trade in offloading many items such as t-shirts, towels, scarfs, pennants, pens, clear files and other such stuff.

Yuki barely even looked at the t-shirts before grabbing one and with that he was done as he immediately got in line to pay for it.

Whilst walking around I spotted a guy called Alex who was very noticable as about the only guy in blue (a 1990 England third shirt no less!) so I shouted out his name and he turned round to confirm that it actually was him as I wasn’t sure. I’d communicated with him on social media a few times but never met in person. Also, alongside him was a guy in a Newcastle shirt and a cap. Once he started speaking I actually recognised his voice as I’d watched some of his Taiwan (that’s where he lives) football vlogs on YouTube. Click here to see his video from this match! 

It was great to chat to them for a while but with dark clouds overhead we thought it best to enter the stadium about an hour before the start. Our seats were non-reserved and out in the open but the concourse would protect us from the inevitable downpour which happened just moments later. Still, it did result in meeting up with a few people inside including a guy I knew and some of Yuki’s friends too.

The rain finally died down a bit and so with ten minutes till kick off we took our seats which is when it really dawned on me that the stadium was not going to fill up at all.

Far from it in fact as it seemed quite empty which may be down to a mix of the midweek timing of the match, the humid and rainy weather, slightly higher prices than usual and dare I say it but less glamorous Premier League opposition! The actual attendance of 13,763 was actually higher than I had anticipated from looking around the stadium which is proof that I am terrible at estimating the size of a crowd!

Tottenham’s match in Tokyo five days earlier was their first in Japan for 33 years but the last time Newcastle played on Japanese soil was in a 3-1 defeat to Gamba Osaka as recently as 1996! Their support for this match was impressive as they congregated in a section of the ground at the opposite end to us. Although there were some local fans present it seemed like the majority of them were made up of Asia-based ex-pats or fans using the football as good reason to visit Japan for a holiday. There’s a lot of assumption from me in that last sentence of course!!

It didn’t take long at all for the opening goal as Swedish forward Alexander Isak put the toon army 1-0 up inside two minutes with a clinical finish.

Having got the equaliser 20 minutes later, Urawa were awarded a penalty soon after even though replays showed the initial contact was just about outside the box. Not much point bothering with VAR for such a match so a penalty it was. However, the Newcastle goalkeeper Pope answered his team’s prayers by pulling off a great save diving to his right although it was quite a nice height for him. Moments later he kept out another good Urawa chance with a fine save.

My view of the penalty!!

Binoculars were certainly useful at times in this match and not just for trying to pick out our friends in the crowd!

Of course the match was sometimes quite slow and the countless number of substitutes didn’t help the flow at all. There was some good football played at times and the cooler, wet conditions probably helped Newcastle who basically controlled the game. Jacob Murphy scored a couple of goals within minutes of each other (45 and 47 minutes) although technically there was a half-time break in between them!

Lewis Hall made it four-one on the hour mark with a deflected shot from distance, and that is how it finished. I’m not 1-4 getting carried away by such friendly match results but it was a good display by Newcastle who showed their superiority against a team who should be more up to speed regarding match fitness and so on.

The behind the scenes videos from a couple of Newcastle YouTubers as well as the supporters group meet-ups show that there is something of a fan base in Japan much bigger than I expected. Of course, it’s never going to rival that of the Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs but it was quite impressive to see this club’s impact on Japan.

Final Score: Urawa Reds 1-4 Newcastle United

• Three days after this match, Newcastle faced Yokohama F. Marinos at Japan National Stadium but left empty handed after a rather lacklustre 2-0 defeat.

Bonus: As was the case with Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle also brought their U15s team with them and they too played an academy match against a J-League Select team. Having been surprised by the larger than expected attendance at the Spurs match I decided to go to this one too but one of the main reasons for attending was just because it was being played at Chichibunomiya Rugby Ground. This is the stadium I’ve been to more than any other in Japan but never had I seen a football match played there until this occasion which helped to increase my tally of grounds I’ve seen live football at in this country. It turned out to be a goal-fest.

Click here to read ‘I went To The Champions League Final! No, Not The UEFA One But The Asian One!’

Click here to read ‘Big Ange Returns To Japan With His Spurs Side To Face The Reigning J1 Champions’

Click here to read ‘In Attendance At The 98th Emperors Cup Final (2018)’

Click here to read ‘Watching Urawa Reds vs Arsenal In The Saitama Challenge Cup Final’ (2013)