Japan-Tunisia TV audience rose after game over

Updated: Sunday June 16, 2002 11:47 p.m. ET

TOKYO, June 17 (Reuters) - More than 40 percent of Japanese households watched television coverage of Japan beating Tunisia in the World Cup, but another large group waited until the match was over before tuning in, a monitoring firm said on Monday.

A hefty 45.5 percent of the audience in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area - the nation's most populous area - watched the match that clinched Japan's berth in the tournament's knockout round, monitoring firm Video Research Ltd said on Monday.

The figure jumped to 59.6 percent just after the game ended.

"Probably a large number of people tuned in to the match just after they arrived home from work," a spokeswoman said.

In the western Japanese region around Osaka, where the game was played, the audience was 44.3 percent.

Most Japanese companies had said no special allowances would be made for employees to watch the match which began at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) on Friday, but many tuned in anyway.

Japan's 1-0 victory over Russia on June 9, their first ever World Cup win, took place in the evening and grabbed ratings of some 66 percent, the second-highest for any sports programme in Japan after the women's volleyball final between Japan and Russia during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Japan's next match is on Tuesday afternoon, when they face off against Turkey.

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