At £8,000, it proved to be the ultimate nightmare trip

England fans had plenty of reasons to feel disappointed yesterday. For some it was the refereeing, for others it was David Seaman's mistake in letting in Brazil's second goal. But for Julian Seaward and his three friends, their team's expulsion had a special piquancy.

"In the second half, they were just lethargic. They created nothing even against 10 men," Mr Seaward said. This would have been bad enough experienced at home on television. But, even factoring in the four minutes of added time, this mediocre display of football cost Mr Seaward £84.57 a minute.

"I was in a bar in Holland when we first had the idea," said his friend, Martin Robinson. "And we sorted it all out through the travel agent the following morning."

The four left Heathrow on Wednesday afternoon, arrived on Thursday and fly back this morning. The flights, two nights in a Tokyo hotel and the match and train tickets cost a total of £7,950 each. Each.

If David Beckham and his team have excuses to give, it is to people such as Mr Seaward and Mr Robinson that they owe them. But last night at least, no one among the England fans would have done anything differently. "It's funny isn't it?" said Mr Seaward, a company executive from London. "I spend six weeks with the wife wondering whether or not to buy a new dishwasher, and then I go and do something like this.

"The point comes when you just decide, and then you go ahead and do it anyway, and then it's too late. It's a one in 30 year event. It's Brazil, it's the quarter-final, and it's in Japan, which makes it even more interesting. It was a great occasion, and some of us didn't have the greatest expectations of England anyway. I have no regrets, none at all."

From its qualifying round strength of 8,000, the England contingent has shrunk almost by half, but the fans still remain the most vocal and the most numerous foreign supporters in the tournament and spirits were high on the two-hour train ride from Tokyo to Shizuoka.

"We almost missed the train because we couldn't get out of bed this morning," Mr Seaward said. "Eight thousand quid to watch it on television. That would have been a blow."

The first quarter of the game was euphoric, but not long into the second half, the excuses were already being formulated. By the time the final whistle blew the formula had been decided.

"I think we did better than anyone really expected," said John Walsh, a logistics manager from Watford. And then he said the line that was repeated over and over on the way back to Tokyo: "There's no shame in going out to Brazil."

Mr Walsh has spent more than £4,000 on four weeks in Japan. "And it's been worth every penny," he said sadly. "Eighty quid a week for a year isn't that much, is it? England fans are treated like scum in so many places, but here they're the politest, kindest people you could ever meet."

And so far, at least, the sentiment has been reciprocated. One man was arrested last night for throwing a Brazil strip on to a train line, but otherwise there were no reports of trouble. On the train back to Tokyo, a Japanese man walked up to one of the England fans and delivered a speech he had clearly been rehearsing. "Thank you for coming to Japan," he said, blushing, "and thank you to England for making it into the quarter-finals."

And the big man in the George Cross shirt looked as if he was trying hard not to cry.