Nadeshiko: The best team in Japan
The team that actually fulfilled the hopes of a nation
The impetus for this piece started as we planned our itinerary for the upcoming Football Women’s World Cup hosted in Australia and New Zealand. Like other fans, we wondered how Japan would fare this time around. Beyond that, we asked how is it that Japan has such a strong Women’s Football team?
As the title suggests, there is an easy argument that the team, colloquially known as Nadeshiko, is the most successful Japanese national team ever. An easy way to understand their outsized success is to note that they are the first ever Asian team to win any Football World Cup. Let’s start with who they are.
Naming Conventions
Now officially recognised as Nadeshiko (fine, officially still Women’s Soccer Team サッカー日本女子代表 or Sakkā Nippon Joshi Daihyō. ), what does that actually mean?
The name actually stems from a flower that denotes traditional femininity, found in Japan and across Eurasia, whose scientific name is Dianthus superbus. Calling themselves Nadeshiko instead of DIANTHUS SUPERBUS meant the team wasn’t required to become a European death metal band.
Slang names are a classic way of personifying a team to the fans, with the formal names often less lovable—e.g., the Socceroos vs the Australian Men’s National Football Team (AMNFT). For Nadeshiko, the slang name was less slang and more officially voted on by the public.
In more modern times the Nadeshiko name itself has generated its own backlash, given the feminine traits of a flower are not necessarily the same as a highly accomplished athlete. This has often come up as an example of women’s sports not given the same respect as men’s in Japan, but it is still the name embraced by team members and fans.
What is the perception of Nadeshiko at home? Well, team sports are sometimes held in strange regard in Asia.
Asians and team sports
Figuring out why Asian countries have not traditionally performed well at team sports might be the starting point. This is a tangent that I do want to explore but am unable to resolve in the article. First, I am discounting baseball as a team sport, given that the many of the fans, researchers, (and ex-players), see it as an individual sport wrapped up in a team sport.
While there have been many attempts by Asian countries over the years to improve their standings in major team sports, few success stories can be found.
Before people make the claim that “Asians are unathletic”, consider the many individual awards that Asians have won in the Olympics. Every table tennis, badminton, and judo winner has been Asian (if Russia doesn’t count). My point being that Asians have displayed athletic competence and even supremacy when given the chance in various athletic pursuits. However, this doesn’t solve the question why Asian countries consistently haven’t found successes in team sports. Like I said, I don’t have the answer, but thought it’s an interesting relevant point. Let me know in the comments below if you have a hypothesis!
My theory is that a mental block has featured among Asian teams in the last century. How does a team overcome this mental block?
Pre 2011
For the Women’s team, there is a clear delineation before 2011 and post. During the earlier years, Japanese football and team sports in general could be summarised as generic Asian team sports. Essentially, they would have some standout teams (for Asia), some top level players, but always fizzle out somewhere in the early knockout rounds. If any team reached that stage, they would be congratulated for a strong performance. This template would describe the pre 2011 women’s team to a T, with only a quarter-final finish as a rare highlight.
There was little to suggest that Nadeshiko during this timeframe was any different. Women’s football was still taken as a secondary concern, with limited fan engagement or sponsorship. To put that in perspective, while there was a top women’s league in Japan founded in 1989, it was only semi-professional until 2022 (now called the Women’s Empowerment League). By comparison, the domestic J-League was professionalised in 1991 (Interested in learning more? As luck would have it I’ve written about this in another article, link below).
Nadeshiko remained a mostly underground team for the Japanese public. That is, until 2011.
2011 Tragedy
For those of you who don’t remember this period, this was a desperate time for Japan. One of the worst natural disasters struck, centering on Fukushima and causing widespread destruction and the loss of many lives. The country was going through a crisis and needed a miracle to break away from the constant footage of tragedy.
It wasn’t a role that anyone was expected to step into. Yes, Prime Minister Abe gave the requisite speeches of building a unified front and returning stronger, but that was par for the course. There were comedians and singers who raised money for the victims, but that also focussed the nation on the ongoing suffering.
The Tournament
So what actually happened? The Nadeshiko team was not a powerhouse, with ELO rankings at the time placing them 13th, behind Equatorial Guinea. They had no pretensions about being a contender for the Women’s World Cup, hosted in Germany.
The tournament was expected to play out between the hosts, the Americans, and Brazil, which all boasted superstar players. Those teams performed as expected, brushing aside their group stage opponents.
Meanwhile… Japan would qualify in second place, by beating New Zealand and Mexico and losing to England. Within the first game, there were questions with young defender Saki Kumagai suffering a head injury almost immediately. She would continue wearing a soon-to-be-iconic headband. At home this did not kickstart a major watch party, but savvy network executives started promoting the channels.
Knockout time!
Into the quarter final, they were up against Germany. Keep in mind Japan was still a makeshift team, with the goalkeeper role not even decided until the tournament had started. Said goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori would describe the German game as “one way traffic”, and unfortunately that traffic was going towards her. Miraculously, somehow she was able to redirect this traffic and Japan prevailed in extra time winning 1-0. Suddenly domestic audience attention was warranted as they made it to their first ever semifinal. Was there something special about this team?
The team were in the semifinals, and inextricably linked to the tsunami due to the concurrency of the two events. Even without external pressure, the timing had meant everyone had implicitly linked these things in their mind. The coach Norio Sasaki was more explicit about this link, asking the players to look at footage of the tsunami victim before every game in Germany. Facing Sweden in the semifinals, there had become a unified sense that this team now mattered more than the average sports team. True to that spirit, Japan would come back from 1-0 to score 3 unanswered goals and become the first Asian team to make the World Cup final.
Of course, fairytales aren’t exciting if the team subsequently loses their biggest match. In this story Japan would face the world’s best team. The Americans. As a story with no historical or real life parallels, America represented the superpower facing an underdog and unfancied nation.
By now, this was the biggest event on Japanese airwaves, and an event that captivated the nation. The organisers clearly weren’t planning for a major Asian audience for the final with awful time zones for local Japanese audiences (the final was hosted in Frankfurt so the game was airing at 3.45am Japan). Despite this, an audience of 10.4-15 million people were watching the game. The final was seen as a turning point for women’s sports but also for soccer as a sport, drawing the highest USA audience ever for a football game.
The score ended up 1-1 and went to penalties. Japan prevailed, creating iconic images capturing the triumph (which won’t be included here due to copyright). Even knowing how the game finished, there was an air of disbelief that Japan actually won. Sport has that magical ability of unifying a nation. The country elevated this team to instant icons, having lifted the spirits of millions at home. The win was viewed as the symbolic moment in the rebuilding of the country’s self image, from one that was still reeling from tragedy, to a country defiantly victorious against the odds.
Current day games
Now over a decade on, Nadeshiko are no longer favourites for the trophy, but are fostering the next generation. The current team is a new crop of players who have successfully met expectations in reaching knockout rounds, replacing last generation’s exceptional performances. The country had hoped for success at their home Olympics, but never got a run in.
But the 2011 Nadeshikos walked so the current day team could run. The nation-defining victory in 2011 turned the tide for women’s sports in Japan, and led to incremental changes including the aforementioned WE (Women Empowerment) league a decade later. Who’s to say what else could happen for Japan if the Nadeshikos can bring home another win in 2023?
Regardless of the circumstances, we’ll be in the stands cheering for Japan.
