In the wee small hours, the Blue Samurai fight on

While fans of most nations competing in the World Cup are used to a rollercoaster of emotions, supporters of Japan and Korea have needed particular stamina -- just to stay awake. With the a time difference of seven hours from South Africa, fans in Japan have had to reschedule their body clocks to cheer on their team. Fortunately the Blue Samurai, inspired by Korea's historic qualification in the second round, delivered an impressive 3-1 win over an experienced Danish team. And Tokyo's streets were suddenly (partially) filled with celebrating -- and exhausted -- fans spilling out of fully-booked cafes across the city.

Recruitment company worker Testuya Kuwaba, 26, asked about his expected productivity today by Japan Real Time before the game, replied “I’m very worried. I should be ok if they win, I’ll just drink a Red Bull. But if Japan loses, I won’t be able to focus.”

Thanks to the efforts of man-of-the-match and new style-icon Keisuke Honda, a reported 5,000 fans gathered in Saitama Stadium saw two free kicks give their team a 2-0 half team lead. Japan's Video Research Ltd reported that by the second half, at 4:58am, a peak TV viewing percentage of 41.3 percent was reached, with an average of 30.5 percent tuning in to the game in the wee hours. 

At least Japan's no.1 fans won't have had that problem, as they attend every match and report back to Japan.

Next up is Paraguay on Tuesday June 29. Fortunately for the work rate of the nation, the round of 16 match kicks off at the more reasonable 11pm local time.