This is an original A4 souvenir programme issued for Kirin Cup Soccer ’94 – the round‑robin international tournament staged in Japan and contested that year by Japan, France and Australia. France took the cup with a 1–0 win over Australia in Kobe and a 4–1 victory over Japan at Tokyo’s National Stadium, while Japan and Australia drew 1–1 in Hiroshima. Sold at the grounds as an official “観戦マニュアル” (spectator manual), the booklet is also a time capsule of 1990s Japanese beer culture: the back cover is given over to a full‑page Kirin Lager “Mr. Beer” advertisement fronted by Harrison Ford, directly linking a premier international football event with Japan’s biggest lager brand.
Design
The front cover carries bold tournament branding – KIRIN CUP SOCCER ’94 in deep blue and red – flanked by colour photography of the three national sides and star players of the era. Japanese captions on the cover reference Argentina, France and Japan, reflecting the original expectation that Argentina would compete before withdrawing; in the final schedule, Australia took their place alongside France and hosts Japan, a quirk of history that adds interest for collectors.
The star attraction, however, is the back cover: Harrison Ford, in black shirt and slacks, standing against a stark white ground and embracing an outsized Kirin Lager bottle, one hand resting on the crown‑cap emblazoned with the Kirin logo. To the right, a vertical headline reads 「キリンラガービール、日本一、ください。」– essentially, “Kirin Lager Beer, Japan’s No.1, please.” Down the left margin, bold type proclaims 「ミスタービール。キリンラガービール」– “Mr. Beer. Kirin Lager Beer.” A small footnote at the bottom cites Kirin’s own figures to state that Kirin Lager was the number‑one bottled and canned beer in Japan in 1993. The imagery and copy are directly in line with Kirin’s early‑mid 1990s “Mr. Beer” campaign, for which Ford shot a series of TV commercials broadcast nationwide in 1994. Displayed flat or framed on the advert side, the programme reads almost like a dedicated Harrison‑Ford × Kirin poster.
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Why this programme matters (football & pop‑culture)
For football historians, Kirin Cup ’94 sits at an interesting moment. Under Aimé Jacquet, France brought a high‑calibre squad that included Eric Cantona, Jean‑Pierre Papin, Youri Djorkaeff, David Ginola, Didier Deschamps, Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly; that team swept the round‑robin with a 1–0 win over Australia and a 4–1 win over Japan, foreshadowing the core that would become world champions four years later on home soil. For Japan, coached by Paulo Roberto Falcão, the tournament formed part of the build‑up to the country’s emergence on the global stage in the mid‑1990s.
The Kirin Cup itself, founded in 1978 and re‑cast as a national‑team round‑robin from 1992, has long been a showcase for Japan against elite visiting sides, sponsored throughout by Kirin Brewery. Programmes from the early 1990s editions are now sought after as much for their design and photography as for the match data.
On the advertising side, Harrison Ford’s Kirin Lager campaign has acquired cult status in its own right. Multiple 1994 TV spots – shot, famously, with the production crew travelling to the US – show Ford enjoying beer in low‑key setups while delivering the line “Kirin ragaa biiru, kudasai” (“Kirin Lager Beer, please”), and contemporary coverage and later retrospectives confirm the campaign’s timing around 1994. The back‑cover execution on this programme is one of the cleanest surviving print manifestations of that campaign, merging Hollywood star power with a very Japanese visual language.
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Format & use
The booklet is standard Japanese A4 (approx. 21 × 29.7 cm), multi‑page, printed in colour throughout and sold at stadiums hosting Kirin Cup ’94 matches – much like modern match programmes in Europe. Inside, you can expect squad lists, profiles, photos and fixtures relating to Japan, France and Australia, along with tournament information and Kirin branding. It displays beautifully framed either on the tournament cover or, more dramatically, on the Harrison Ford / Kirin Lager advert, and it also works perfectly as a handling piece or coffee‑table booklet for collectors of football, Japanese ephemera or advertising history.
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Condition
Excellent for age. The covers are bright and glossy with only light handling and tiny edge and corner touches consistent with stadium‑sold programmes; the spine remains sound and the interior pages are clean, with no writing, stains or significant creasing noted.
This is an original 1994 Japanese A4 match programme (not a reproduction or reprint).
It is now over 30 years old.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
