How do you say "stereotype" in Portuguese? Every day during the World Cup, an industry association of commercial broadcasters places an ad in newspapers promoting the games that will be shown on TV that day. The matches on June 8 were Italy vs. Croatia and Brazil vs. China. The copy read, "Entranced by the beautiful boys of Europe? Shocked by the monsters of South America? Today, it's a deluxe double-header!"

And if Ichiro bags the MVP award again, maybe the United States will drop its steel tariff. While strolling through Mizumoto Park two weeks ago on a publicity jaunt, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara was asked by an MXTV reporter for a comment on the upcoming Japan-Russia soccer match. "Japan must win," the governor said with that weird, mischievous grin of his, "then we can talk seriously about getting the four northern islands back."

We're the co-hosts, and we'll ask you any dumb question we want. During an early evening news broadcast, TV Asahi ran a totsugeki (guerrilla) report on some of the campsites that have been set up near the stadiums. The woman reporter, exercising her right as a journalist to stick her nose wherever she pleased, would saunter into a camp and without so much as a "konnichiwa" start picking through supporters' belongings. In one camp, she lifted up a plastic bag full of dinner rolls and asked its European owner point-blank in English, "What's this?" The supporter inspected the bag. "It's bread," he said with complete confidence.