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Originally Posted by SeijiSensei
Why is it "samurai blue?"
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I assume you've probably found your answer by now, as it took only 5min of Googlefu on my part.
The interesting answer is that no one knows why the Japan men's football team stuck with a blue-and-white uniform. They apparently adopted those colours after the Second World War, and stuck with it by tradition. Someone speculated that it's possibly because of an aversion to a red jersey, as red in immediate post-war Japan was associated with communism.
The Samurai Blue tag came more recently (the women's team are Nadeshiko Japan, despite also wearing blue-and-white; the nadeshiko flower is pink). If I remember correctly, I first heard of "Samurai Blue" during the World Cup jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002 (which, incidentally, was when the international media first became aware of the Japanese penchant for cleaning stadiums after matches), but it may have been used even before then.
South Korea under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink were an exciting team to watch during the 2002 tournament (they ended up fourth overall). Japan did not fare as well — they made it past the group stage, but were knocked out in the round-of-16. Still, as it was the first time Japan ever played in a World Cup final, they were a regional team to root for during the first and only "Asian" World Cup so far.