Football is coming home to Japan

Japan is a country with a strong tradition in sports like baseball and sumo but TV ratings for the year 2005 showed that four of the top five ratings were achieved during sports events, all Japan matches for World Cup qualifiers.

Top of the list, was the match against North Korea, in Bangkok, which guaranteed Japan’s place in the World Cup finals, with ratings of 47.3 points. In second place, the match between Japan and North Korea in Japan. In third, a concert with great Japanese musical performers. In fourth, the match between Japan and Bahrain in Bahrain, and in fifth, the home match between Japan and Iran.

Each point represents approximately one million people, considering the viewers average. However, the total number of people watching television varies a lot, thus the value of each point follows such variation.

These ratings are expected to increase during the World Cup later this year. It is another proof of the power of football, which is promoting a change even in the behaviour of the Japanese viewer.