Log entry:

Stepping of the Su Zou hao into Japan it was a great feeling knowing we had come so far, completed the journey and arrived all in one piece. Walking along a glass tunnel to the ferry terminal we glanced down onto the tarmac below and saw Mr Jiro from Hong Kong waiting for us and waving frantically.

After a brief interrogation by the customs people we were introduced to a camera crew by Mr Jiro, who then shot off to go to a stadium somewhere. We were left in the hands of producers Akiko and Takeesh, soundman Ken and cameraman Ouchan, and then Akiko sat us down upstairs in a room in the ferry terminal building and asked us if they could follow us during our stay in Japan. There was only ever going to be one answer. The team said they would be making a documentary of the trip and that they could help us with daily jobs such as buying train tickets and booking hotels. With no money we had already swooshed the Japanese rail pass onto our credit cards but for accommodation we told them that a map showing all the vacant park benches and cardboard boxes in Japan would be very useful for our visit. Before we found a place to stay for the night though Akiko thought it would be a good idea to visit a Japanese temple and pray for England. As none of us could think of anything better to do we agreed to do our first real bit of acting for the cameras, but instead of praying for England we asked the big man upstairs for some tickets to the games instead.

Next day it was straight off to Tokyo on one of the amazing bullet trains. Once there the immediate plan was to find a bar where we could watch the opening game between France and Senegal. In the Footnik Bar Mexicans, English and Japanese all sang each others songs and a great evening was had by all. After going separate ways somehow at about six next morning all three of us woke up in Shibuya train station to a policeman telling us to move out of the way several times but in desperate need of sleep, each time we sat upright he would disappear thinking we would go. Cheekily after he'd gone we would then go back to sleep but eventually as he patrolled back and forth he grew tired and saw us out of the station. We then went to MacDonald’s and slept in there for three hours, with baz, much to the annoyance of the customers, sleeping on the toilet for an hour. On his second day in Japan, Baz also lost his bank cards that night so borrowed money from Gary for the rest of the trip. Tom wasn’t feeling so good either as he had just put a large bet on France to win the World Cup.

An internet café was an urgent priority that morning when we met the crew, as Baz wanted to find a phone number for the bank and Tom needed to send an email to FIFA who said there was a small chance of us receiving complimentary tickets for such a good effort in reaching Japan. This day in the trip we were just starting to become comfortable in front of the camera and the benefits of having them showed again when we were whisked off to Saitama in their van, in order to make sure we would arrive in time for the Ireland v Cameroon game. They also kindly treated us to a meal in Dennys.

We watched the Group E games in a World Cup tent in a busy city park in Saitama and once we had checked the hotel prices in town, we fell asleep there on a bench each too. Waking about 6 on the day of the match we rose to see about 100 hundred teenage girls all queuing in front of us. We thought we couldn’t be that famous yet. They had aired our piece from Hong Kong but no-one had come up to us previously so we wondered what was going on. That morning the England v Sweden game was the last thing on our minds, but it wasn’t the all the girls which kept us occupied. We were in desperate need of a wash as sleeping rough had taken its toll, especially on baz. With a strange aroma following him round like cloud in a cartoon, Bazs oxygen supply was reaching dangerously low levels and as all the screaming young ladies were there only for a pop star and not The Dennis Bergkamp Trail, we went looking for a hotel to have a shower. Finding a big hotel which had public baths that opened at 10am we waited in the reception. While waiting we discovered that we were actually in the hotel of the Swedish team. The teams Head of Security came over to us and told us no English fans or camera crews were allowed in the hotel so we explained our plight and he kindly let us stay as long as we didn’t make a noise or let down the tyres on the team bus. In a very strange hour Gary then had the phone call we thought we would never get. It was Andreas Herren, the Head of Media from FIFA who said we can collect complimentary tickets at the stadium for the game that day against Sweden!!. Ecstatic and celebrating like Geoff Hurst had just scored the fourth, we were made up that morning and just didn’t know what to do with ourselves. After sleeping rough since arriving and constantly wondering whether we had come all this way for nothing, it was a magical moment which had made all the trials and tribulations of getting to japan, all that more worthwhile.

The dream day though, hadn’t even begun yet. After a much needed shower and a few celebratory beers for breakfast in the park beer tent we made our way to the stadium. Here with our whistles wetted a little, we searched for more booze but we found many England fans were dying on their feet as there wasn’t a beer for sale in sight. All this didn’t matter for us though after meeting Andreas outside the ground. He had given us tickets for the VIP section!! In our flip flops and shorts we made our way through one security cordon after another and we were finally greeted by an airport type metal detector with conveyor belt included and about 20 Japanese ladies were on the other side giving it Koneegua…. Koneegua and bowing all the time too.

As soon as we were through it was straight to the beer and grub. Before the feast continued though I thought I had better put my backpack in the luggage section. With token in hand I turned round and looked at a room full of officials and dignitaries in suits and then I saw Baz. Baz, possibly the clumsiest person on the planet, was still not coming to terms with where he was. Standing nervously alone amongst all the officials he held a plate of "caviar and prawn sandwiches" in one hand, and with the other he had his head bowed and was frantically scratching his forehead trying to remove a great big England transfer stuck to his forehead. Absolutely priceless!! Tom, never the shy one, went round everyone getting photos and when he saw English ‘referee’ Graham Poll and Danish one Kim Molten Nielson (the one who sent off Beckham) walk past he was extra cheeky and sauntered over. He asked Kim Nielson for a photo but when he looked round and couldn’t find Gary and Baz to do the honours, he shouted for ‘referee’ Graham and asked him to take it instead.

After having enough Chocolate cake, beer, spaghetti and FIFA sandwiches to feed an army we settled down to watch the game. We sat directly in front of another ref Dermot Gallagher who was with his wife but at half time he moved down to the empty seats five rows below, as we were shouting and swearing too much. Sounds weird from a ref I now but he did have his misses there.

Thinking we would be watching all but one of our games in bars, after nine months travel and now deep in debt it was a day I will never forget, mingling and chatting with the likes of Michel Platini, Adam Crozier and Doug Ellis in our shorts and flip flops and being served beer for free by the gallon. I don’t think it will ever happen again but it was a great experience of the high life which will live in the memory forever.