<\/p>\n
Jun Endo wasn\u2019t allowed to play football outside after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster because of radiation fears, so she honed her dribbling skills in a cramped indoor hall instead.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup win that year inspired her to keep going and now the forward is carrying her country\u2019s hopes into this month\u2019s tournament in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t play football because of the effects of the disaster, but just when I was thinking of quitting, Japan won the World Cup,\u201d the 23-year-old told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cI watched that and I strongly felt that I wanted to be standing in that position one day too.\u201d <\/p>\n Endo grew up about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Fukushima\u2019s Daiichi nuclear plant and was 10 years old when the deadly tsunami overwhelmed its cooling systems, triggering a meltdown.<\/p>\n About 165,000 people fled their homes in the area, either voluntarily or under evacuation orders, in the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl.<\/p>\n Endo\u2019s family lived outside the evacuation zone and stayed put, but radiation regulations at her school meant outdoor play was strictly limited for months after the disaster.<\/p>\n Endo had to share the same small indoor hall with the other kids but she says it had \u201ca good impact\u201d on her control of a football.<\/p>\n \u201cI liked dribbling before then but I began to like it even more during that time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy technique developed a lot and in terms of what came out of it, it was really good.\u201d Endo says it was difficult to deal with the loss of freedom and she thought about giving up football.<\/p>\n Rare visits to other parts of Japan to play games brought relief but also pain \u2014 she and her teammates faced discrimination from opposing players who treated them like they were radioactive.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople would say nasty things to us when we were away on football tours,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThen there were people who didn\u2019t want to eat or buy things that were grown in Fukushima and had the name Fukushima on them.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE NEWS<\/b><\/p>\n \u2018I was happy to play one game\u2019: 156-cap Matildas great ready for \u2018extremely special\u2019 World Cup<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n \u2018Peace and gratitude\u2019: US football great to retire after World Cup<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n <\/b>Visiting Women\u2019s World Cup players filmed mocking haka<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Ange’s first press conference for Spurs | 28:48<\/p>\n A moment of respite came when Japan upset the odds to win the Women\u2019s World Cup in Germany that summer, beating the United States in the final to become national heroes.<\/p>\n Endo recalls getting up in the middle of the night to watch the match with her parents and three siblings, describing it as \u201ca turning point\u201d in her life.<\/p>\n \u201cI had felt the fun going out of football, so to see players doing what I wanted to do \u2014 winning the World Cup \u2014 it had a really positive impact on me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gave me strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Endo now plays her club football for Angel City FC in the United States, having left Japan\u2019s domestic league at the end of 2021.<\/p>\n She has become a key figure for her country, after appearing in three of Japan\u2019s four games at the 2019 World Cup as the squad\u2019s youngest player.<\/p>\n Japan have fallen behind the world\u2019s leading sides since winning the World Cup and did not progress past the last 16 in France four years ago.<\/p>\n They have been drawn in Group C alongside Spain, Zambia and Costa Rica for this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n Endo concedes that it will be tough to reclaim the title but she is hoping to inspire a new generation in the same way that she drew hope from the 2011 team.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not much difference from 2011 \u2014 if we win then women\u2019s football will get more attention,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMore kids will want to become football players. It\u2019s important to win the title.\u201d Japan\u2019s World Cup crown was credited with lifting the nation\u2019s spirits and the team\u2019s connection to the Fukushima area was a deep one.<\/p>\n They often used the Japan Football Association\u2019s J-Village training centre there and two of the players even worked at the nuclear plant before the meltdown.<\/p>\n Endo\u2019s roots are also tangled up with the disaster but she says she has no intention of running away from it.<\/p>\n \u201cI have nothing but bad memories from the disaster, but it\u2019s precisely because it happened that I kept playing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI try to take it as a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n