BLAUBLITZ AKITA (BB Akita) is one of the soccer teams in Japan’s J2 League (Japanese Professional Football League B) and has many local fans in Akita. One of the fans made a cheering flag for the team with a large picture of a red-haired Akita dog. In the photo, the dog is lying down in a laid-back gesture. The flag is particularly eye-catching among thousands of fans cheering on their teams in the stadium.
Mr. Watanabe Takuya, an office worker in Noshiro City, created the cheering flag. He said, “Many of BB Akita’s banners and flags have designs of Namahage (a traditional oni, or demon-like deity in Oga City), and I wanted to express Akita in other ways.”
The flag is 3.5 meters long and 2.5 meters wide. Hana (three-year-old, female), the signboard dog of Furusawa Onsen in Odate City, is printed in the flag’s center. A fellow supporter of the team who is a regular customer of the onsen (hot springs) took the photo of Hana.
Initially, the flag was scheduled to make its stadium debut in 2020. However, due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the first unveiling had been delayed to Spring 2021.
“At first, I was worried about what kind of response I would get because there aren’t many cheering banners with photos printed directly on them. I was relieved to hear that many people thought the flag was cute. Even the supporters of our opponents complimented the flag,” Mr. Watanabe said with a cheerful smile.
Last year, in their first season in J2, BB Akita finished 13th out of 22 teams in a tenacious battle. On February 19th, they will play their season’s opening game against Tochigi SC in Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture. Mr. Watanabe said, “I’d like to see us achieve a better ranking this year, but first and foremost, it is important to stay in the J2 League.” He also said that he will continue to support the team this season with the Akita dog cheering flag.
