Even when everyone is packed in like sardines, they don't let on how uncomfortable they are. They just put up with it. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but a German might start an argument if you even bump him a bit with your shoulder. Littbarski is a tough manager. Here, he is giving tips to members of the Yokohama FC team.
Japanese players enjoy the game.
In Germany, we play to win-we're really happy when we win, but it's a different story if we lose. It seemed to me that Japanese players got enough satisfaction just from playing the game. When Littbarski started playing in Japan, he'd get irritated if his teammates played sloppily. They couldn't understand why I was angry. I wanted to communicate to them how important it is to win, so I began studying Japanese as hard as I could, after practice.