JAPAN: SOCCER - FANS AND MEDIA FRENZY AS DAVID BECKHAM AND WIFE VICTORIA HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AT A TOKYO HOTEL.

Record ID: 190187

  • Title: JAPAN: SOCCER - FANS AND MEDIA FRENZY AS DAVID BECKHAM AND WIFE VICTORIA HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE AT A TOKYO HOTEL.
  • Date: 19th June 2003
  • Summary: (W3) TOKYO, JAPAN (JUNE 19, 2003)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF DAVID BECKHAM AND VICTORIA BECKHAM (IN PINK) LEAVING THE HOTEL FROM THE UNDERGROUND PARKING LOT/JAPANESE FANS TAKING PICTURES WITH MOBILE PHONES 2. CROWDS OF JOURNALISTS MILLING AROUND THE CONFERENCE ROOM BEFORE BECKHAM EVENT WITH TOKYO BEAUTY CLINIC (TBC) 3. VARIOUS OF JAPANESE JOURNALISTS BEING LET IN 4. ORGANISERS TELLING FOREIGN JOURNALIST (VAGUELY AUDIBLE) IN ENGLISH THAT THE EVENT IS FOR JAPANESE PRESS ONLY 5. FOREIGN JOURNALIST 6. BAG OF GIFTS FOR JOURNALISTS WITH A PICTURE OF DAVID BECKHAM 7. DOORS BEING CLOSED ON FOREIGN JOURNALIST 8. EXTERIOR OF HOTEL OF THE EVENT AND FANS AND JOURNALIST WAITING OUTSIDE 9. DAVID BECKHAM LOOK-ALIKE WALKING TO FANS 10. THE LOOK-ALIKE BEING MOBBED BY FANS AND JOURNALISTS 11. CROWDS DISPERSING 12. LIMOUSINE ENTERING THE HOTEL GROUNDS 13. JOURNALISTS WAITING FOR THE BECKHAMS 14. (SOUNDBITE)(Japanese) JAPANESE BECKHAM FAN, UNIDENTIFIED, SAYING: "It doesn't matter what he does, he just so cute" 15. MORE OF FANS WAITING FOR BECKHAM 16. NEWPAPER HEADLINES AND HEADLINE PHOTO (REUTERS PHOTO - ACCESS ALL) OF DAVID AND VICTORIA BECKHAM Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
  • Country: Japan
  • Reuters ID: LVA9D9GC6MGVVY2LB24KHVQ0TGBI
  • Story Text: Football megastar David Beckham, whose presence in
    Japan has set off a frenzy among media and fans alike, has
    said he was looking forward to his move to Real Madrid as an
    exciting challenge.



    The media circus surrounding soccer superstar David
    Beckham and his former pop star Victoria began in earnest
    early on Thursday (June 19) at a downtown Tokyo hotel.

    Organisers of one of the sponsors had invited the press to
    a press conference.

    But as the crowds of journalists and television stations
    found out when they arrived at the venue was that none of the
    foreign press were invited.

    No amount of cajoling and begging allowed the desperate
    group to get a peek within the press conference.

    However the Japanese press who were let in played out the
    full press conference later in the day. Foreign media were not
    allowed access to those pictures either.

    His contracts specify there should be no publicity for the
    campaigns outside Japan.

    "I'm very excited to become part of Real Madrid," Beckham
    told a news conference carried by Japanese television, in some
    of his first comments on the move, which was announced on
    Tuesday.

    "It's a very exciting experience and it's going to be a
    very good challenge for me, on the football field and off it,"
    he said, adding that he was looking forward to living in
    Spain.

    Outside the hotel, fans and journalists had gathered for a
    possible glimpse of the star.

    Though few saw the famed couple but they was a commotion
    at one point when look-alike Paul turned up.

    The impersonator who arrived from London for the occasion
    disappeared before the crowds realised he was not the real
    Mcoy.

    Beckham's boyish good looks have also made him more than
    a soccer player in Japan, especially following the World Cup
    2002 which took place in South Korea and Japan.

    "It doesn't matter what he does, he just so cute," said
    one giggling Japanese fan.

    Beckham, 28, and his wife Victoria, arrived in Japan on
    Wednesday to shrieks of excitement from hundreds of fans who
    packed Tokyo's Narita airport for a brief glimpse of their
    idol, waving banners and traditional Japanese carp flags.




  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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