Borussia Dortmund in Japan: the best of social media
Tokyo - Borussia Dortmund will certainly not forget their brief but eventful tour to Tokyo as part of the Bundesliga World Tour 2015 this week.
The Schwarz-Gelben spent just over two days in the Japanese capital, during which Shinji Kagawa made it onto the cover of the world’s most popular computer game and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added another character to his burgeoning repertoire of alter egos, with both of them scoring excelling in an exhibition friendly.
bundesliga.com sums up their tour with a little help from some social media gems…
Heroes' welcome
Dortmund arrived in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, local time, and were greeted by hundreds of manic fans at the airport. Signing autographs is certainly one way to get over the jet-lag...
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Fans, fans and more fans
After their first training session on Monday evening, the players then had another autograph signing session the following day. Skipper Mats Hummels summed the reception up perfectly in this Instagram post: "Great fans here in Japan, always enthusiastic and polite. And some guy trying to copy Shinji!"
Shinji the star
Speaking of Shinji Kagawa, the Japan international was the club's unofficial ambassador on the tour and drew perhaps the most attention from his BVB-crazy compatriots. The 26-year-old represented the club at their official press conference to open the tour on Monday, at which it was announced that he would feature on the cover of the Japanese version of EA Sports FIFA 16 when it is released later this year.
Meeting of minds
Kagawa, on account of his media commitments, had actually arrived in the country before the rest of his team-mates and had not been in training in Dortmund last week due to his being given an extended summer break on account of his participation in the Asian Cup in January. His first encounter with new coach Thomas Tuchel, therefore, was a long time coming.
Kagawa at the double
That Tuchel had hardly worked with Kagawa in training made little difference in reality. He started the former Cerezo Osaka attacker in Tuesday's friendly against Kawasaki Frontale, which BVB won 6-0, with Kagawa scoring a first-half brace.
Japan's Yellow Wall?
The support that BVB received from those of the thousands that made it to the stadium against Kawasaki Frontale was truly extraordinary. Fans like that would no doubt fit in perfectly with the Dortmund regulars on the terraces at Signal Iduna Park...
The many-faced goalscorer
We know that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a taste for the theatrical. He's dressed up as Spiderman and Superman in the past and usually performs forward flips when he scores. This time, after also hitting a double against Kawasaki, he posted this picture on Instagram of himself holding- you guessed it - a Pikachu mask. For readers unfamiliar with the character, it comes from the comic series Pokemon, created in Japan of all places in 1996, and in the anime series 'Pokemon', Pikachu was the companion of the protagonist Ash Ketchum. You can always trust Dortmund's Aubameyang to bring out the child in us all...
Bye-bye Japan
On Wednesday morning, the players said farewell to the Land of the Rising Sun for nearby Singapore, where their reception is likely to be just as manic.