TOKYO: David Beckham may be the most celebrated athlete on the planet following his mega transfer deal with Real Madrid, but in Japan the visiting footballer is overshadowed by homegrown heroes of baseball and sumo, let alone the beautiful game.
Tokyo's sports dailies pushed back their deadlines overnight yesterday to remove from front page the airport frenzy over the England football captain's arrival here, replacing it with Reggina midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura's two-goal heroics in Japan's 3-0 win over New Zealand in the Confederations Cup at the Stade de France late on Wednesday.