When one generally thinks about the countries with the best football supporters they will normally say: Germany, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, England (although ultras are all but dead there in my opinion). But they forget many others so this is my first out of a few different posts I'll have trying to highlight the under appreciated Ultras from all over the globe.
The first is the Japanese Ultras. These are some of the most well organized, full voiced, colorful, creative fans in the world without a doubt. But because they are not from Europe, they get no coverage. The main team in Japan, who consequently has the biggest supporters group is the Urawa Reds (fans pictured above). These fans finally got to make an international debut during the FIFA match they played against AC Milan. The Reds supporters put the Milan supporters to shame both in Japan and in Italy, not many club's supporters can do that.
It's not just Urawa though, every team in Japan has a fairly large supporters group. Every game these fans are basically color coded with everyone wearing the same color, the color of their club. The second most well known and supported club is Gamba Osaka who is classically Urawa's rivals. Recently in a game between the two violence broke out between the fans of the clubs with Urawa's supporters charging the gate between themselves and Gamba supporters. This is starting to become a reoccurring trend in Japan, where fans are slowly beginnign to move away from being somewhat peaceful supporters, to more violent. Mobs of hooliganas for each team are becoming more and more popular, while the flag waving, team color wearing fan style is slowly fading very similar to what happened in England in the past. But there is no doubt, as one fans blog put it "Hooliganism is alive and kicking (literally, there was a pic of a Gamba fan being kicked by a Urawa fan) in the J-1!"
Japanese Ultras are without a doubt the most underappreciated football supporters in the world in my opinion. They are one of the most organized, passionate, loud, and creative fans you will find today. I believe they do not get the recognition they deserve, but as more and more of the J-1 league gets exposure in other countries, the more these Japanese fans will come to be appreciated and respected.
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