But in the Frog and Toad, at least, everyone was having a good time.Most Japanese have only two images of international football. The first is of their own domestic spectators, who arrive at the ground early, patiently queue, politely shout and applaud at appropriate moments, and tidy up their litter before quietly going home. The other is of hooligans who ran riot in Charleville at the previous World Cup in France, caught on a video that has been replayed over and over here. The idea of something in between – noisy, but peaceful – is something that they have never seen.I watched the France v Senegal match in a bar with a good Japanese friend, a well-travelled and well-educated woman with many foreign acquaintances.”Do they always do that, or is it just for the last game?” she asked, when the cheering for Senegal began at the final whistle. I had to explain that she hadn’t seen anything yet.For all their good spirits, Japanese trepidation about the tournament had not gone unnoticed by many of the fans.Stuart Fraser said: “At the airport I was interviewed three times by different Japanese TV programmes, and they all asked what I thought about hooligans They’re so hyped up about it. I said that we are ambassadors for our country and we’re only here to have a good time.”All spoke of long queues at immigration, and suspicious questions for those who had arrived by unconventional routes.Some of these were very unconventional indeed. Paul Dubberley of West Bromwich had spent two and half months travelling overland by public transport – trains, buses and taxis, through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China.

He was drinking on the street with Daniel and Olof, a pair of Swedes who had taken the trans-Siberian railway – the three had become friends on the boat from Shanghai to Osaka.”I’ve been here for four days, and everybody is just getting on,” said Paul “I learnt that in Iran. The government says, ‘Death to America’, and our government hates their government, but ordinary people are just as nice everywhere.”But there is no getting round the expense of the journey and the city. Even in the plastic glasses the Frog and Toad is using for safety reasons, beer is 900 yen or £5 a pint. No one I spoke to was expecting the round trip to cost much less than £2,000. Justin Hodge of Kent was paying that, for just five days – after tomorrow’s match between England and Sweden, he will fly home to Kent. “But when else in your life are you going to do the two things?” he said “See the World Cup and see Japan Look around – we’re in Japan We’re in Japan, and it’s fantastic.”. Norfolk Island, a speck in the South Pacific that is home to descendants of Fletcher Christian’s Bounty mutineers, is in turmoil following its first murder in 150 years.

It is a quirky place where cows have right of way on the roads and locals speak a hybrid of archaic English and Polynesian.But Norfolk’s image as a peaceful haven is in tatters after a young Australian woman was found beaten and stabbed to death at a secluded picnic spot. Janelle Patton, 29, who had been working in a local hotel for two years, was last seen walking to a supermarket to buy lunch for her parents.An atmosphere of fear now infects a place where locals used to leave houses unlocked and car keys in the ignition. “It’s kicked the stuffing out of us,” said Geoff Gardner, the island’s Chief Minister. “The community’s soul has been laid bare.”Australian police flew out to help the island’s three officers investigate, but two months later no arrests have been made.