The [Japanese] fans have been warned to behave: No sightseeing, no straying from the group. No drums, speakers, banners or Japanese flags, according to Nishitetsu Travel, which is organizing the three-day, $3,740 tour for the Japanese Football Association.
"In principle, (North Korea) is a country where we have travel restrictions, and we are only allowing this trip as an exception," Osamu Fujimura, Japan's chief cabinet spokesman, said Friday in Tokyo. "Therefore, we would like the visitors to refrain from any activity other than watching the game while in (North Korea)."
The last time these two teams played each other in North Korea was back in 1989 and North Korea won 2 - 0. Since then, North Korea-Japan relationship has deteriorated due to belligerent act of North Korean government. North Korean government abducted Japanese citizens during 1970s and 1980s. Through 1990s and 2000, Japanese government pressed North Korea to return its citizens who were abducted by North Korea. North Korea did return some of its citizens in 2002, however, North Korea failed to offer adequate explanations regarding the circumstance of other abductees and insisted that the issue has been resolved, while the Japanese government considered its explanation unacceptable. (source) Then North Korea began testing missiles that had the capability to reach Japan, and they test fired ballistic missiles into the East Sea. In response, Japan joined its allies, U.S. and South Korea, imposing sanctions.
Despite North Korea's past actions, it seems to me that North Korean government is trying to improve ties with its neighboring states. Just last month, North Korean government allowed Japanese medical team to travel to North Korea to treat the nuclear victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Player to watch:
Jong Tae-se: He currently plays for Vfl Bochum in Germany, and in the past, he played in J-League for Kawasaki Frontale. He is a 3rd generation Korean born in Japan and attended North Korean school in Japan, though his parents held South Korea citizenship. He later traded his South Korea citizenship for North Korean citizenship. He was the one who was crying during 2010 World Cup when North Korean national anthem came on.
Tadanari Lee: I'm not 100% sure if he is going to play because Zaccheroni does not have a set roster. Tadanari Lee is also a 3rd generation Korean who was born in Japan. In the past, he briefly joined South Korea's U-19 and U-20 team, but due to Korean politics in football and strong discrimination by Korea players, he did not play any official games and returned to Japan. Currently, he plays for Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
You can watch a documentary on these two players here.
**Update** 11/15/2011 7:45 PM
North Korea won the game 1 - 0, however, it seemed to me Zaccheroni did not put in his usual starters and Japan looked very relaxed while North Korean players were playing their best. Jong Tae-se subbed out during 1st half due to an injury and Tadanari Lee played about last 10 minutes during 2nd half. Few things I noticed during the game:
1) I noticed that there were no advertisement banners around the field. I have never watched any FIFA football game without advertisement banners around the field.
2) North Koreans cheered, till the very end of the game, every time North Korean players got the ball.
3) I guess they did not bring enough soccer balls for the game. I saw the players chase after the ball onto the track when it went out of bounds. Usually, ball boy just throws the ball to the player, but that rarely happened.
4) Japanese fans looked very bored since they were not allowed to cheer during the game.
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