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Japan teams up to tackle hooligans

Japanese police in training for feared hooliganism

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- World Cup organisers are working with volunteers to prevent violence tarnishing the showpiece tournament.

Japanese police and community leaders are preparing for the worst and European diplomats are doing what they can to prevent cultural misunderstandings and quell what they say are "unnecessary" fears, CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports.

During France 1998 violence broke out in Marseille between English fans and local north Africans, and a gendarme was viciously attacked by German thugs.

Japanese police have spent several months staging training drills, which include dealing with out-of-control hooligans.

In a suburb of Saitama City, where England plays Sweden on June 2, concerned residents are wearing special vests and carrying walkie-talkies as they practice patrolling their own normally quiet neighbourhoods.

Community leader Yoshiharu Fujnami said: "We don't want dangerous people here, so we've created a communication network to coordinate with police."

Although local businesses hope the World Cup will bring in more business, they are also worried about vandalism by hooligans.

The public has been unnerved by pictures of European football violence from the last World Cup which have been shown frequently on Japanese TV.

But the UK government says it is working to prevent known hooligans from travelling to this year's finals being held in Japan and South Korea.

William Jack, of the British Embassy, said: "The real football hooligans won't be here, but the ordinary fans look big and make a lot of noise."

To prevent misunderstandings and over-reactions, British Embassy staff have been distributing information around the country.

One pamphlet they handed out in a bar district of downtown Tokyo warns that while England fans might be loud, large, and may look scary by Japanese standards, they are not actually hostile.

"Please be tolerant," it says, "and share their enthusiasm for football."

Jack added: "We're trying to encourage bar owners and restaurant owners either to get the fans to pay as they buy each drink, or at least to remind them once in a while what sort of big bill they're building up, so that there are no arguments in the end."

A peaceful World Cup finals, they say, will need tolerance and cultural flexibility from fans and locals alike.