Japanese-Americans Ryan and Ethan Narimatsujayne and their father, Kevin Narimatsu, skipped school and work to watch the match in Tokyo.

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Team USA won 5-2 over defending champion Japan on Sunday

Japanese soccer fans skipped school and work to cheer on their team

Tokyo CNN  — 

It was raining outside and they should have probably been on their way to work, but instead, football fans were filing into a bar in Tokyo to catch the big Women’s World Cup final between defending champion Japan and the United States.

At 8 a.m. Hideto Nakajima normally takes his kids to school but he begged his wife to let him off drop-off duty. “It’s a special day today!” he told me and her.

It wasn’t just the adults.

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Ethan and Ryan Narimatsujayne took the morning off elementary school to catch the game.

Their dad, Kevin, said: “World Cup only happens once every four years, right? So you can miss one day of school.”

As Japanese-Americans, it was basically a win-win situation for them. But they were cheering for Team USA.

There was less cheering coming from most of the other people who had packed the bar.

Japan’s victory in 2011 against the U.S. after a nail biting 3-1 penalty shoot out lifted the spirits of the country at a time it really needed it – just months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. These fans were hoping for a repeat.

Japanese fans watch the match in a Tokyo bar

It only took about five minutes for it to become clear that was going to be a tall order.

But Nadeshiko Japan, the nickname given to Japan women’s national football team, came from behind when they won it last time. Maybe they could do it again?

READ: A victory for the U.S. – and women

By the time the U.S. scored their fourth goal however, the bar had grown more and more quiet.

“I’d like to at least see them score like one or two goals,” said Mika Yamaji, who came out to support Japan.

“I think yeah, that’ll be a respectable finish but U.S. is really strong today.”

Japanese team supporter Mika Yamaji

Koh Takeuchi agreed Team USA was just too good. “Four down in the first half. It¹s really hard to come back from that. That’s all you can say. The U.S. team came out. They came out ready.”

But when asked how Japan should be feeling today?

“Hopefully proud,” he said. “It’s not an easy thing to come second in the World Cup.”