The Anthem
Kimigayo
▶ Listen on YouTube ↗“May your reign last a thousand generations…”
Its lyrics come from a 10th-century waka poem, making them among the oldest of any national anthem — and at four lines, it is one of the shortest.
The Legends
Names that echo
Hidetoshi Nakata
Midfielder · 1990s–2000s
The cosmopolitan pioneer who made Japanese football fashionable in Serie A.
Keisuke Honda
Midfielder · 2000s–10s
Big-game specialist who scored at three World Cups.
Shinji Kagawa
Midfielder · 2010s
Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United playmaker.
Fun Facts
Worth knowing
- 01
Japanese fans famously stay behind to clean their section of the stadium after every match — and the players tidy their dressing room too.
- 02
Japan has now qualified for every World Cup since its 1998 debut.
- 03
In 2022 it beat both Germany and Spain in the same group — a feat no one saw coming.
At the World Cup
The story so far
A late starter that has become Asia's standard-bearer. Since debuting in 1998, Japan has qualified every time and repeatedly reached the knockout rounds, twice toppling European giants in 2022.
Giant-killers
Japan came from behind to beat Germany and Spain, topping a brutal group in the most dramatic of fashions.
Agonizingly close
Japan led Belgium 2-0 in the last 16 before a 94th-minute counter-attack broke its heart.
Group Stage