The Four Happiest People in Japan
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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?
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