Ear piercing

No, not the puncturing of parts of the anatomy; it's what you get when you go and watch the Japanese/Tunisia match in one of the local New Zealand bars.

Now I have to point out a bit of background;

The bar in question is a sports bar; it has a cinema like projection screen and terraced viewing platforms. It can hold 200 people.

Most of them were Japanese.

and female (vocally, at least)

I arrived shortly after the game began (I thought I was going for a quiet night at the pub, but plans change); the place was full of people waving enthusiastically at the screen. I bought my beer (surprisingly enough, the bar itself was NOT busy) and worked my way into a corner at the back, on the basis that if I stood anywhere else I would block someone's view, and I could look over the heads of most of the crowd.

Then I wished I'd bought ear plugs.

There is obviously the equivalent of David Beckham in the Japanese team, because every time the bald left winger got the ball the place would erupt into screams - and that was just the guys (I joke). One girl jumped onto a table and started waving here hands at the screen. I doubt the player could see her, but she did it none the less. Mind you, I suppose it's the same as me shouting at the TV 'Come on Owen, hit the b****y ball into the goal', which happened quite a bit last night. He heard me as well.

The screams would be alternated with chants of 'I'm a martian, would you ... etc' (see previous posting), but which I gradually translated into 'Nip-pon, Nip-pon', and then the bald headed bloke would get the ball and the girl on the table would remove her top and wave it at the screen ( or something like that; I thought the Japanese were supposed to be inscrutable).

I left before the end of the game; my ear drums couldn't stand it.