The Olympics are well under way, and the opening ceremony taken place yet. Yesterday we attended a US vs. Japan football game in Tianjin, half an hour from Beijing on the new bullet train. (Which, with a fast speed of 350 km per hour, still pales in comparison to TGV and Shinkansen trains. But a great development nonetheless.)

The stadium at Tianjin is brand new, enormous, and quite impressive. The crowd was mainly Chinese, almost all of whom were supporting the US; unfortunately, historical resentment of Japan still prevails. Behind us sat an adorable Japanese family whose toddlers were waving Japanese flags and whose dad had a straw hat with both the US and Japanese flags poking out. There were a few Americans in the 35,000-person crowd, about 15 of us scattered around. This is what happens when you come from a country where nobody plays soccer after the age of 12.

I was sitting in the nosebleed section; the telephoto lens came in handy as binoculars.

Although Japan was the favorite coming into the match, the US ended up winning 1 to 0. A few Americans ran around shirtless, much to the amusement of the Chinese.