For Japanese people, Croatia has a very strong association with football.
And not simply because it is a strong football nation.
At the World Cup, Croatia somehow feels like the opponent Japan just cannot get past.
Japan has faced Croatia three times at the World Cup.
In 1998, Japan lost 1–0. In 2006, the match ended 0–0. In 2022, it finished 1–1 after extra time, before Japan was eliminated in the penalty shootout.
Japan has therefore never beaten Croatia at a World Cup.
The 2022 match was especially memorable. Japan had already defeated Germany and Spain and was playing for its first-ever place in the quarterfinals, only to be stopped by Croatia once again.
For Japanese fans, Croatia has become a particularly frustrating World Cup opponent.
If you ask a Japanese person to name a Croatian, Luka Modrić may be the one name that comes to mind.
He was the symbol of the Croatian national team for many years and is extremely well known among people who follow football.
But ask for the name of a Croatian actor, singer or politician, and suddenly it becomes much harder.
Knowing almost no other famous Croatian names while still knowing Modrić is an interesting kind of imbalance.
For some Japanese people, however, another name may come to mind before Modrić.
Mirko Cro Cop.
He became enormously famous in Japan through K-1 and PRIDE, especially for his devastating left high kick.
His red-and-white checkered shorts also left a strong impression.
For Japanese people who followed combat sports, he may have been one of the first Croatians many viewers could actually put a face to.
Japan’s football connection with Croatia is not limited to national-team matches either.
People familiar with Japanese football in the 1990s may remember that Kazuyoshi Miura — Kazu — played in Croatia.
Just before Japan made its World Cup debut in France in 1998, Kazu was left out of the final squad, which became major news in Japan.
He later moved to Croatia Zagreb in 1999.
And one of Japan’s opponents at that same 1998 World Cup had been Croatia.
For football fans who remember that period, those events can feel strangely connected.
But Japan’s image of Croatia is not only about sport.
When it comes to cities, Dubrovnik may actually come to mind before the capital, Zagreb.
The blue Adriatic Sea.
Orange rooftops.
An old town enclosed by walls.
It is a landscape that has appeared many times in Japanese travel programs and articles.
There are probably quite a few people who could not picture Zagreb at all, but would immediately recognize a photograph of Dubrovnik.
And in Japan, that scenery is sometimes described as looking “like Ghibli.”
In particular, people may be reminded of Kiki’s Delivery Service or Porco Rosso.
That does not mean Dubrovnik was officially the model for those films.
But the combination of red roofs and blue sea can easily remind Japanese viewers of a Studio Ghibli world.
As a result, Croatia has also acquired a slightly Japan-specific image as “a country with towns that look like Ghibli.”
For older generations, however, the name Croatia may carry a very different set of memories.
The former Yugoslavia and the conflicts of the 1990s.
For people who watched the news at the time, Croatia did not first enter their awareness as a beautiful tourist destination.
Some first learned the country’s name through war and the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Younger people may be more likely to think first of Modrić, football, Dubrovnik and the beautiful Adriatic coast.
The entry point can be quite different depending on the generation.
And then, suddenly, the picture becomes much less clear.
Croatian food.
If you ask Japanese people to name one Croatian dish, many would probably struggle to think of anything at all.
Croatian restaurants are also rarely seen in everyday life in Japan.
When it comes to what people in Croatia actually eat in ordinary daily life, almost nothing immediately comes to mind.
The language is similar.
“How do you say hello in Croatian?”
Very few Japanese people could answer immediately.
Croatia is a familiar name. So are Modrić and Dubrovnik.
And yet when the subject turns to food, language or ordinary daily life, Croatia suddenly feels much farther away.
For Japanese people, Croatia may be a country they have encountered again and again without ever really getting to know it.
