Japan soccer fans jam mobile phone traffic

TOKYO: Fans of Japan's national soccer team jammed up mobile phone

connections on Friday as calls flooded in for unsold tickets to this weekend's

first-round World Cup match against Russia.

Japanese mobile phone companies NTT DoCoMo Inc. and J-Phone Corp said many

customers could not make calls starting around noon due to heavy traffic. NTT

East Corp said two million people had tried to call in a space of three minutes.

Japanese organisers JAWOC said the 750 extra tickets for the Japan-Russia

match on Sunday were sold out in 20 minutes.

Ticket muddles have meant fans have been unable to get tickets although

swathes of seats have been empty at stadiums. JAWOC has decided to take charge

of selling half of the remaining first-round tickets over the telephone, while

FIFA continues to offer the rest over the Internet.