Having ended off a long but super sightings filled day in Tokyo, Ryan and I took the train back to Yokohama, deciding along the way to make use of the remaining light to take a walking trip through to the Nissan Stadium before turning in for the night.

IMG_20141004_161350 yokohama traffic

Nissan Stadium (officially the International Stadium Yokohama) played host to the final match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals, which saw Brazil beat German 2-0.

IMG_20141004_163512 walking towards the international stadium yokohama

Inaugurated in March 1998, Yokohama International Stadium is the home stadium of Yokohama F. Marinos of the J1 League. Also, it has the highest seating capacity of any stadium in Japan, with a total of 72,327 seats.

IMG_20141004_164537 plaza at the nissan stadium in yokohama

Visiting stadiums isn’t necessarily a very tourist like destination, but seeing as South Africa took part in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, it was kind of worth the walk for the two of us, and admittedly, seeing the South African memorabilia up on the walls among all the world giants in the stadium shop was kind of awesome.

IMG_20141004_164322 fifa world cup commemoration statue on the plaza at nissan stadium yokohama

Outside of the people making use of the stadium’s swimming pool facilities and a few people out for an evening walk, the stadium grounds were of course pretty deserted, giving Ryan and myself the perfect opportunity to spend some time checking out all the FIFA World Cup memorial sculptures and works.

IMG_20141004_171315 yokohama nissan stadium 2002 fifa world cup memorial sculpture

By this stage, my feet were absolutely killing me, so I sat at the top of the plaza steps while Ryan went for a walk right round this immense concrete stadium.

IMG_20141004_165757 stairs above the plaza at the nissan stadium in yokohama

Honestly, I have no idea how I did eventually make it back across Yokohama to our hotel, but I know the trip must have taken more out of Ryan than what he was letting on – after all, we were barely back in our room before I heard some snoring and grabbed this snap! :)

IMG_20141004_194214 an exhausted ryan lotter fast asleep

So yeah, we actually enjoyed our unplanned evening trip to a desolated stadium. How else would we learn that German keeper Lehmann’s hand isn’t all that much bigger than Ryan’s?

UPDATE: Ryan was quick to point out that I completely forgot the fact that once back at the hotel, whilst I rested he popped out for more exploration, hence the exhaustion. Makes sense. This all happened a year ago, so no doubt I’ve already forgotten one or two of the finer details! :)

Related Link: Nissan Stadium