AUCKLAND, New Zealand — From the opening moments, the swelling support for the Japanese women’s national team sounded like a boom boom boom of a bass drum.
A Japanese man wearing a pink curly wig possessed the mallet, and he kept the beat going from the northwest corner of Eden Park. At times, the drummer would pause to reset to a new rhythm, but mostly he banged in threes throughout Japan’s World Cup quarterfinal match against Sweden. All around the drum leader were Japanese women dressed in homemade blue Samurai outfits, another man happily passing out Japanese folding fans and White children with a miniature version of a Japanese flag painted on their faces.