It was 2002 that FIFA World Cup was first held in Asia. Games took place in 20 cities in both Japan and South Korea. [1] It called attention of the global soccer fans since the way games took place was very different from the past games. FIFA world cup had been held only in Europe and America before that. Also, regarding the history of soccer, starting as elite’s sport in England, the 2002 World Cup proved that some sport can be global, as Barbara. J. Keys defines sport as something that “transcends class, race, and religion” in her article Globalizing Sport. [2]
It also had great impact from local perspectives. Many local towns, especially in country areas, were selected as the place for camp for various national teams. According to Tsuji Toshio, most of those towns still have connections with the country of the national team even after 5 years after the World Cup. [3] Thus in this case, sport works not only as a mean to show off the power but also as the opportunities to enhance communication between local towns and foreign countries. Moreover, both cooperation as well as dispute between Japan and Korea got attention of locals. Regarding the historical issues between Korea and Japan, it is natural that people in both countries were interested in what was happening between them during the World Cup, although most of them are in the category of rumors and were not really examined by scholars.
[1] Toshio, Tsuji. “2002 FIFA日韓ワールドカップに関する調査研究 (The Survey of 2002 FIFA World Cup Japan/Korea)”. Cosmica. Vol. 37 (2007), 21-41. Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Print.
[2]Keys, J. Barbara. “Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s”. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2006. Print.
[3] Toshio, Tsuji. “2002 FIFA日韓ワールドカップに関する調査研究 (The Survey of 2002 FIFA World Cup Japan/Korea)”. Cosmica. Vol. 37 (2007), 21-41. Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Print.
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