As a football fan living in Tokyo the idea of going to some of the more far-flung Japanese stadiums is very difficult to justify in terms of time and cost. However, knowing that I’d be based in Hiroshima for the August Obon holiday opened up options to venture over to a neighbouring prefecture for a J2 league match combined with a local sight or two. The choice was either Fagiano Okayama FC to the east or Renofa Yamaguchi to the west.

Neither were particularly close and would each take around four hours to get to by local transport. There are bigger and better sights in Okayama but having done many of them before I opted for Yamaguchi. A full-day would be needed for sure as I couldn’t justify the price of two more Shinkansen (bullet train) journeys within 24 hours of my previous one between Tokyo and Hiroshima.

After a short stop at a nearby onsen (hot spring baths) town, I decided to take the 30 minute walk to the stadium, and some of the views en-route were glorious with nature aplenty including the beautiful mountains fringing the region.

It’s always nice to tick off a new stadium and my first impressions were favourable as I saw the fine structure that is the main stand.

As I don’t have too many orange shirts in my collection, watching Renofa gave me a rare chance to give my Netherlands Euro 2000 shirt an airing. It’s a slightly different shade to the Yamaguchi-based team but better than nothing I guess!

Take a walk around the ground and the outer walls having markings on them relating to track and field sports (particularly the latter!) that have taken place in the stadium over the years. With the Paris Olympics still taking place at this time it probably caught my attention more than it otherwise would have. The markings included showing the height of the highest high jump, the lenth of the longest shot putt, discus and long jump events and so on.

It was also no surprise to see a colourful mascot with a flame outside the back stand as this is Japan where such characters are ubiquitous.

As I entered it wasn’t the annoying running track around the pitch that first caught my attention but the view of the mountains to the rear of the main stand opposite me. It was a wonderful setting and made up for the running track but I’ve long accepted that they are a staple of most Japanese stadia.

The home support were in fine voice as kick off approached on a humid night.

Presumably, it was the main stand which was rennoved in 2011 as the rest of the stadium doesn’t look like it’s changed much since when it opened in 1963! I chose to sit in the back stand as I believe it’s better to be able to see the star attraction rather than being in it looking out at something less appealing.

Having made the effort to wear the home team’s colours I was then a bit disappointed to see that Renofa would not be in orange. Summer shirts are a quirk of the J-League where many of the teams release limited edition shirts to be worn for a few games. They often seem to be slightly more daring variations based on the home colours whilst maybe incorporating some local culture of sort into the design. Sometimes though they are a completely different colour as was the case with Renofa who switched to purple!

Renofa are actually in the play-off spots in the race to reach J1 and have been getting rave reviews from some media outlets. On the other hand, Tochigi SC are battling against relegation to J3 towards the foot of the table but you wouldn’t have guessed that as they made the better start and took the lead on 17 minutes.

Tochigi seemed to struggle with low crosses put into their box and not once but twice they ended up turning the ball into their own net. Another quirk of Japanese football is that they don’t like to declare them as own goals so the PA system usually announce such  calamities as being converted by the last person to hit the ball for the scoring team.

Both teams added to their tally between those unfortunate own-goals including one from striker Kota Kawano who was given glowing praise by the co-host of the J-Talk Podcast on his website days before this match. His goal made things level going into the break.

The second own goal happened on 70 minutes and the home side then went 4-2 up fourteen minutes later. Game over.

There was actually a consolation goal for Tochigi SC deep in injury time but I was already at the local station by then as I had to get the train back to Shin-Yamaguchi in time for my Shinkansen ride back to Hiroshima. It was the only choice for returning to my in-law’s place otherwise I wouldn’t get back at all! It took less than half an hour but when I look back on this matchday experience I know that it’ll be the journey to the game I remember most!

Final Score: Renofa Yamaguchi 4-3 Tochigi SC

Bonus: Seven days later I made a very late decision to attend the Tokyo Derby when back in the capital city. I’ve been to a few Tokyo Derbies in my time with the vast majority of them being in the lower-leagues (including one a few months ago between Tokyo United and Tokyo Aries) but never had I attended the real proper one between FC Tokyo and Tokyo Verdy.

Both teams share a stadium but FC Tokyo were the home team for this one. I decided to join the Verdy fans in the away section on a terribly sweaty August summer night. With Verdy spending a lot of time in recent years in J2, these derbies have not been so common. The atmosphere was incredible and Verdy were the better team but just couldn’t take advantage of the second half domination, and it sadly finished a goalless draw.

Click here to read ‘The Station With A Great Sea-View In Yamaguchi Prefecture’

Click here to read ‘Akiyoshido Limestone Cave In Mine City’

Click here to read ‘On The Fox Trail……At Motonosumi Inari Shrine (Yamaguchi)’

Click here to read ‘A Day In Yamaguchi Prefecture’