Japan in the World Cup Finals

Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals on June 8th, 2005.

World Cup Appearances:
Germany 2006 is Japan's 3rd appearance in the World Cup Finals.

Best World Cup Performance:
Japan reached the last sixteen on home soil in the Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup finals.

Japan World Cup Preparations

Japan will base themselves in Bonn (the former capital of West Germany) and will train at the Sportpark Nord.

Japan Team Hotel
Hilton Hotel Bonn:
Berliner Freiheit 2, Bonn.
Located on the right-hand side of the River Rhine, the Hilton Bonn is just a few minutes’ walk from the city centre with its historical museums, beautiful parks and Beethoven’s birthplace. The hotel has 252 rooms, two restaurants, a bar, 15 meeting rooms, a sauna, steam bath, swimming pool and fitness room.

Hotels in Bonn:
There's no shortage of hotels for Japanese fans wishing to base themselves in Germany's former capital. Both Kaiserslautern and Dortmund can easily be reached from a hotel in Bonn, although it's a bit further across to Nürnberg.

Japan Friendly Matches
Beat Ecuador (1-0), Thursday 30th March. (Oita, Japan)
The only goal was scored by Hisato Sato (84).

Lost to Bulgaria (1-2), Tuesday 9th May. (Osaka)
Goal scroed by: Seiichiro Maki (76).

Drew with Scotland (0-0), Saturday 13th May. (Saitama)

Germany, Tuesday 30th May. (Leverkusen)

Malta, Sunday 4th June. (Dusseldorf)

Japan in the 2006 World Cup
Group F
Monday, 12th June
Australia vs Japan
Kaiserslautern -- (15:00)

Sunday, 18th June
Japan vs Croatia
Nürnberg -- (15:00)

Thursday, 22nd June
Japan vs Brazil
Dortmund -- (21:00)

Knockout Stage
Group F winner travels to Dortmund and the runner-up goes to Kaiserslautern.

If Japan win the group, they will stay in Dortmund for another 5 days.

Japan World Cup Squad 2006
Blues

Goalkeepers:
1 Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight)
12 Yoichi Doi (FC Tokyo)
23 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata)

Defenders:
2 Makoto Tanaka (Jubilo Iwata)
3 Yuichi Komano (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
5 Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka)
6 Koji Nakata (Basle, Switzerland)
14 Alessandro Santos (Urawa Reds)
19 Keisuke Tsuboi (Urawa Reds)
21 Akira Kaji (Gamba Osaka)
22 Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F Marinos)

Midfielders:
4 Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka)
7 Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton, England)
8 Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers)
10 Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Scotland)
15 Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata)
17 Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion, England)
18 Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds)

Forwards:
9 Naohiro Takahara (Hamburg, Germany)
11 Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba)
13 Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers)
16 Masashi Oguro (Grenoble, France)
20 Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus Eight)

Trainer:
Zico (Brazil).

Players to watch:
7 Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton, England)
18 Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds)
10 Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Scotland)

Destination Japan

Japan Travel Notes:
Find out more about Japan @ Travel Notes.