BONN -- The Japan national team received a boost this week with the arrival of unofficial mascot Rommel the dog.
Reuters reported that Rommel arrived bleary-eyed after a 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt and he was received by hundreds of waiting journalists and photographers before he was whisked to Japan's headquarters in Bonn.
The owner of dachshund Rommel -- Ron for short -- is Japan's chief media officer Hideto Teshima and he was showing off the miniature mutt to admiring fans at G-JAMPS (the Germany-Japan Media Partners Supporters center) in Bonn on Thursday.
Ron, who is 10 years old (a pensionable 70 in dog years), was decked out in a fashionable tight-fitting Japan shirt and spent most the day catching some rays on a sunny day in the former capital of West Germany.
At one point, Japanese fans, intrigued locals, journalists and photographers crammed around the entrance to the media center to take pictures of the dog and media-savvy Ron played up to the crowd with a number of 360 degree rolls that belied his age.
Judging by the photos of him rolling around the floor theatrically, it looks as though he's got the playacting antics of certain Japan players down to pat.