If you read Kumi Kinohara's "On The Ball" column on Tuesday you'll know that Japan still has a bit of work to do before next year's World Cup.
Well, Japan's not alone. Cohost South Korea has its own problems to fix before next year. After a quick trip across the Sea of Japan to take in the first week of the Confederations Cup, it became obvious that both countries need to get their acts together.
Here then is a quick rundown on the South Korean side of things.
1) English -- The Koreans themselves believe that they are well ahead on this one, but there's not so much in it. As a result, Korean Football Association chief Dr. Chung Mong Joon found himself praising the "organixation" behind the Confederations Cup at the opening ceremony in Daegu.
OK, spelling errors are not going to kill you, but you still hope they can get things right in time for the world's biggest single sporting event. The solution is very simple: Use native speakers.
Japanese and Koreans alike think that anyone coming back from a few years in an English-speaking country is fluent in the language and can be trusted with any task in English.
Wrong! That's how you get the Yokohama Olympic bid committee spelling "Olympic" wrong on its promotion video.
After more than 20 years of living overseas, I can tell you that truly bilingual people are very, very rare. Of course, I've met hundreds of Japanese and Koreans who can communicate at a very high standard of English, but "a very high standard" and native standard are completely different.
Next year, the main language of communication at the World Cup will be English, and that will include French English, Italian English, Brazilian English, etc. When people can't communicate in foreign countries, frustration and tension rises rapidly and this can lead to all sorts of problems. The ability to communicate in English well is an important task that the organizers must address.
2) Volunteers -- This brings us back to English, in part. South Korea has proudly stated that it has more than enough volunteers already for 2002 (over 60,000; Japan, meanwhile, has approximately three). Indeed, the Koreans were not short of volunteers during the Confederations Cup.
But what is the good of a volunteer who knows absolutely nothing? Even worse, the volunteer who thinks she (most of them seem to be women) speaks English and knows absolutely nothing.
I must say that the staff at Suwon Stadium were very good; elsewhere, they were sincere and eager, but generally clueless. The blame, of course, does not always rest with the volunteers themselves. If they are trained badly, they will perform badly.
It may be that the volunteers are still a little bit green and they will undergo vigorous training over the next year, but that training has to take into account the instant desires of short-tempered journalists, hopelessly lost fans, hopelessly dim hooligans and a large amount of other very stupid people. Stupid people do not need stupid people as guides.
But there again . . .
3) The airport -- FIFA boss Sepp Blatter and Dr. Chung both commented on the need to use local airports to commute between the two countries during the World Cup, but the main port of entry -- and initial impression -- for most people will be Narita in Japan and the new Incheon airport in South Korea.
Not surprisingly, Incheon, which only opened a couple of months ago, wins hands down. While Narita is improving rapidly, it still only has one runway (the second one, it appears, won't be ready in time for the World Cup). At Incheon, it looks like they've got about 10.
The terminal building is huge and not unimpressive (i.e. it's got a McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Lotteria). It's a world away from crappy old Kimpo -- the previous airport -- and gives Seoul a chance to be a major regional transportation hub.
More importantly, it makes the processing (or deportation) of thousands of football fans a lot easier.
On the down side, it's almost as far away from downtown Seoul as Narita is from Tokyo. Not to worry. My guidebook says the center of Seoul is just over an hour by bus, which works out as six minutes in a Korean taxi (funeral included).
4) Transport -- In the unlikely event of surviving a Korean taxi ride from the airport, your driver will demand money. With the new airport comes a new ripoff -- drivers of regular taxis have apparently been gouging customers, using the curious argument that the airport is a long way away, therefore they want more than the fare on the meter.
In some ways, you have to sympathize. Korean taxis are remarkably cheap. Even a deluxe (black) taxi is only 60,000 won into town. That's 6,000 yen. The regular taxis are about 35,000 won (3,500 yen). Getting around cities by taxi is incredibly cheap -- but there are problems.
Taxis are not exclusively yours, so you might find yourself sharing after a bit of curb crawling from your driver. Taxi drivers often decide where they want to go, not you, so you may get into a taxi and find the driver doesn't want to take you in a certain direction. Of course, we are assuming that the taxi has stopped for you in the first place; if you're a foreigner, this isn't likely to happen. Taxi drivers do not speak English and can barely understand simple stuff such as "airport" or "Royal Hotel" or "jiggy-jiggy bar." Finally, bad though they are, there just aren't enough taxis, which is a big problem, especially late at night.
As for other forms of transport, highway buses are excellent and cheap and there are a lot of exclusive bus lanes. On the down side, roads are horrendously congested and all drivers in Korea have a death wish. Anyone contemplating renting a car is immediately institutionalized.
The intercity trains are also good, but nowhere near the standard (or frequency) of Japanese trains. They are cheap (even first class) and comfortable, but usually slow (South Korea's version of the bullet train is even slower as it hasn't been built yet; they were building it but had to start all over again when it was found out that the contractors were using flour and water instead of concrete).
The subway in Seoul is similar to Tokyo's and easy to get around on. It has expanded in recent years and actually goes to places you want to visit now.
5) Hotels -- Hotels in South Korea have been somewhat overpriced for some time. They have the usual classification system, but this never seems to be revised when the hotel ages or turns into a brothel. As a result there are some appalling hotels (which often look like they were built overnight) that charge ripoff prices. One "suite" I had in Daegu was just a crappy double room with a sofa squeezed into it.
And beware: A lot of hotels have nightclubs in the basement, so if you are staying below the 10th floor, you will either be awakened by the walls vibrating or from the shouts of Korean drunks fighting outside.
If you accept that staying in a Korean hotel is not going to be restful, try staying in a "motel," which is a cheap hotel that is often used as a love hotel (and therefore is not being promoted officially). You can even get a "massage." Expect other guests to be shouting and/or fighting all night.
6) Stadiums -- So far, so good. During the Confederations Cup, I visited Daegu, Ulsan and Suwon. Daegu (capacity 68,000) was the only one with a running track, but it's still a mighty fine stadium and you don't feel you are 3 km from the action like you do at Yokohama Stadium. And you don't get wet when it rains, like you do at Yokohama Stadium.
You will get wet at Suwon (capacity 43,000) if it rains, as the end stands are uncovered, but Ulsan's Munsu Stadium (43,500) is a peach -- it's almost the perfect soccer stadium. Seoul's new stadium (64,000) is nearly finished and that also looks like it will be a grand affair.
It seems that South Korea has gone out of its way to build stadiums for the World Cup (i.e. football stadiums), whereas Japan has just built stadiums to keep politicians' gravy trains on track.
7) Organization and security -- I knew I was in Korea when I turned up for a news conference with Sepp Blatter at the Hyatt Hotel and instead of a row of efficient young people demanding meishi or a look at my credentials at the entrance, there was a single, indifferent young woman eating her lunch.
Koreans are good at indifference, as they are at impatience. If a Korean wants something, he wants it now. Koreans can't be bothered with waiting around to do things properly; they'd prefer a shoddy job done quickly (cf. South Korea: department stores, bridges that fall down).
So there is a danger that this attitude will be applied to the World Cup. While security was tight at the opening game, where President Kim Dae Jung was in attendance, at Suwon, no one could be bothered to check my bags or my pass and I just walked straight through.
Where the Koreans do win out over the Japanese is in their security resources. Conscription is still in force in Korea, so there is a huge potential resource of security forces. Even better, they have attitude.
In fact, the mayor of Daegu even challenged Europe's hooligans to try it on in his city. "We are ready," he said, meaning they will kick butt.
And they know how to kick butt. It seems like everyone learns taekwondo, Korea's version of karate, and there are quite a few football hooligans who could be in for a big shock next year.
The only problem is that the Koreans' natural aggressiveness itself might trigger violence in Korea. Could be fun.
8) Information -- "Ulsan? What do you want to go there for?"
"Hotels? You're going to stay in a hotel?"
All right, no one at the airport information desk actually said these things to me, but the attitude was there.
And as for Korea's official accommodation bureau, I am sure I have not met two stupider women than the two I found there. They were astonished that I actually wanted to keep a copy of the official accommodation guide, and when they gave it to me they actually showed me how to use the brochure ("If you want to find Ulsan in the contents, look down the list until you find Ulsan. Then look at the page number, 47. If you want to find page 47, flick through the brochure like this until you reach page 47 -- look, it says Ulsan at the top. You can find hotels in Ulsan there. Why do you want to go to Ulsan?").
Having said all that, there was enough information provided to get around and to find accommodation.
As for the media, Korean television didn't show any games live except those involving South Korea, a source of intense irritation for most of the journalists there and no doubt also for soccer fans in general.
The English-language press is way behind the standard found in Japan and sport does not seem to be a high priority in them.
In fact, the only semi-decent English-language information service comes from the American Armed Forces TV and radio stations, but, of course, it's completely useless for football fans.
So there does appear to be an information gap in some areas. What the major cities do have are Internet cafes, and the computer is likely to be the best way to find out what's going on over there.
9) The fans -- When South Korea plays Japan in Seoul, the crowds are sensational. During the Confederations Cup, they seemed strangely muted.
OK, any crowd would find it hard to work up enthusiasm when you're getting slaughtered by the world champion, but even in the win over Mexico at Ulsan, there was something lacking. Some of the spark returned against Australia at Suwon, but the full-on support wasn't there.
Crowds at non-South Korea matches were also poor (the exception being the France-Brazil semifinal, again in Suwon). With Japan also failing to attract full support, one can only assume that the locals regarded the tournament as being second class. Newspapers in both countries called into question the local fans' commitment to football. Hopefully things will change as the World Cup nears.
10) The national soccer team -- Under new management, as we say. Former Netherlands and Real Madrid boss Guus Hiddink is in charge of the national team and he's not having an easy time.
He seems to be suffering from the same kind of adjustment problems Philippe Troussier had when he came to Japan.
Troussier has settled in well now, but it took a long time. Hiddink, who only started the job at the beginning of the year, doesn't have the luxury of time as he tries to deconstruct and reconstruct the way the national team plays.
On the plus side for him, his three best players (Yoo Sang Chul, Hwang Sun Hong, Hong Myung Bo) all play for the same J. League team, Kashiwa Reysol, and are playing decent football.
Yoo was a star during the Confederations Cup and could be the lynch pin that Hiddink needs for the team. He doesn't have a Hidetoshi Nakata, so he's got his work cut out. He seems to be leading the team into a more controlled style of football -- perhaps a risky move considering the Koreans' natural attacking game -- and it remains to be seen if it will end in glory or disaster.
The same might be said to be true for the 2002 World Cup itself in both South Korea and Japan.