``Japan have not lost a match since I began supporting them. I am a student and cannot afford to pay much money so I want to buy a match ticket for 200 francs ($ 30),'' read the message which some kind soul had written out neatly in French.

``200 francs?'' scoffed a passing ticket tout. ``Try offering 5,000 instead. I know one Japanese fan who paid 15,000 francs for a single ticket.''Life is getting tougher for the small army of ticketless fans ahead of the first World Cup match in Japan's history.

Many were let down by agencies offering tickets which turned out not to exist. Some of these decided not to travel to Europe but others did come and are regretting their rashness.

``I have been doing this for almost two days now but have had no luck so far. There are lots of Japanese fans in the same position as me,'' said student Yuki Kakihira, sittingdisconsolately on a park bench in a Central Toulouse Square.

``There are plenty of tickets out there but the touts want too much money,'' he said, holding a piece of cardboard on which the words ``tickets please'' were written in French.

``My friends and I must have been approached a hundred time today by touts wanting between 3,000 and 10,000 francs for a single ticket. When I told them I could only pay 2,000 francs, they just sneered and walked away,'' he complained.