The Four Happiest People in Japan

Junichi Inamoto's agent. Inamoto, the pudgy-faced 22-year-old bottle-blonde bomber, coolly smacked a goal high into the net from close range, six minutes into the second half Sunday night — the only score Japan would need to defeat a bigger, stronger Russian squad. Suddenly, with two goals in two games for Japan, Inamoto is a hot soccer property again. He nearly vanished after warming the bench for Arsenal in the English Premier League this past season. So invisible had Inamoto become that the English took to calling him "T-shirt" since his only real contribution to Arsenal appeared to be boosting sales of soccer jerseys. There was some poetic justice to Inamoto's triumph on Sunday; Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was watching from the media section. Is Inamoto having such a fabulous World Cup simply because he is hungrier? "Yes, yes, say that, yes," the 1.8m (5' 9") midfielder said smiling after Sunday's game. "The Japanese fans haven't been able to see me play for a long time," he added, "so I am very happy they can see me perform so well now."

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No one is happier about Inamoto's redemption than Philippe Troussier. The melodramatic, megalomaniac French manager put his career on the line when he took charge of Japan's team four years ago, after its feckless showing in France. Expectations were huge that Japan would make history and win a game in this World Cup — and qualify for the second round — especially after they were placed into one of the weaker groups. Troussier was dancing on the sidelines after Sunday's victory, relieved, no doubt, that his charges had turned up the intensity and finally figured out how to score a goal. But the win, and Japan's tie last week against Belgium, also boost his bargaining position when he goes looking for his next job.

Job preservation probably wasn't far from the mind of Junichiro Koizumi, either. The beleaguered Prime Minister nearly leaped from the rafters in Yokohama after Japan's victory. His popularity has sunk so low he is desperately hoping the soccer team's success will give him a residual boost. It doesn't hurt, either, that the victory came against Russia. Although the historical enmity isn't as well known to soccer fans as the animosity between Argentina and England, Russia and Japan have their own bone of contention: the Kuril islands, off the coast of Japan's northernmost Hokkaido prefecture — not unlike the Falklands — have been claimed by both nations since the end of World War II

So those are three happy people in Japan. The fourth? My taxi driver. Inexplicably, Japan Railways didn't run any late trains from Yokohama to Tokyo Sunday night. So hundreds of fans — and me — found locked gates at one of the main stations. So instead of taking the one-hour train trip home, I had to hop in a taxi. The driver grinned the whole way back to Tokyo, and was still smiling after I paid him the 8,820-yen fare (about $70 US). Who says the World Cup won't help the economy in Japan?