‘Worse Than Pearl Harbor’: Japan Just Beat the U.S. in American Football

Japan has a long history of adopting an American tradition, then doing it way, way better. For example, Japan’s love for baseball is so intense that one of MLB’s best players is a Japanese dude, and the country has an annual high school tournament in which 4,000 high school teams compete.

Now, they’ve adopted another American sport — and goddamn it, they’re beating us at that too!

Recently, the IFAF World Junior Championships were held in Edmonton, Canada. While everyone expected things to go how they usually do (some North American team wins it all), this year saw something different.

“The final score of 41-20 saw Team Japan take down Team USA on its way to the gold medal for the first time in the country’s history,” writes James Brizuela for Newsweek. “Losing a close game is one thing, but the U.S. lost by a staggering three touchdowns.”

“Japan has now knocked the U.S. out of chasing its third gold medal,” added Brizuela.

Over time, Japanese players are only get better — so I hope everyone is ready for a Super Bowl in Osaka.