Construction of the stadium, which also hosts the World Cup semi-final in which England will hope to be involved, began in 1998 and lasted three years before the ground was officially opened in October last year.

It was designed around three basic concepts - to "promote the hopes and dreams of the youth of Saitama", to "make Saitama the home of soccer in Japan" and to "be an extra support for relief operations in the event of a major national disaster".

Indeed, due to the past history of tremors in Japan, the stadium has been made "earthquake resistant", while it also includes "water purification and storehouses for disaster relief", as well as solar panel energy.

With 63,700 seats, it is billed as Japan's biggest stadium used exclusively for football. As well as the semi-final, three group matches will be played there, including Japan's opening game against Belgium.

Saitama, known as the Land of Colour due to its fertile countryside, is an inland 'prefecture' that lies just half an hour from central Tokyo by train, just to the north of the Japanese capital.

The area makes up just one per cent of Japan's land mass but has seven million people, many of them among the younger age groups, living there.

The capital is Saitama City, a city which was newly-formed on May 1 last year by the merger of the cities of Urawa, Omiya and Yono. It will also host the 2006 men's World Basketball Championships.

The all-weather Sapporo Dome is an amazing futuristic stadium, which cost £250million to build and features technical gadgetry that allows the natural grass pitch to be grown outside the venue and moved inside for matches on a cushion of air.

As the pitch hovers into place, a wall opens up and a rotating seat system moves aside before the grassed area is turned around by 90 degrees into place and the seats are slid back. The entire manoeuvre takes about two hours.

Nicknamed in Japanese 'Hiroba' - Plaza - the huge structure has been built on an imposing hill, Hitsujigaoka, on the edge of the city centre and will have a capacity of 42,122 in single-tier, sloping stands when used for football.

Sapporo opted for an all-weather covered stadium because of the heavy snow in winter, although the climate in June tends to be fairly mild, especially compared to other World Cup venues, where the rainy season could be in full swing.

This will be the first competitive game that England have played under a permanent roof, although they did face Germany in Detroit at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1993.

To get used to the conditions, England asked Holland to shut the retractable roof for their February friendly in Amsterdam's ArenA while Argentina fixed up a friendly against Wales under the closed roof of the Millennium Stadium.

Inside the eight-level Sapporo Dome, which also has a shopping mall attached, the air is kept fresh by an air-conditioning unit and natural ventilation system in summer, while a heating system is applied to seats in the winter months.

Sapporo, in the north of the Japanese archipelago, is the furthest venue from England's base camp on Awaji island and was established only 130 years ago, with its current population of 1.8million making it Japan's fifth largest city.

The Winter Olympics were held there in 1972 and there is said to be a "lively" entertainment district in the city, Susukino, with more than 5,000 shops, restaurants and pubs.

This is the venue where England will learn whether they have qualified for the knock-out stages and, if so, which team they will face in the second round.

Nagai Stadium was completed in May 1996 and has a capacity of 50,000.

Japan's final group game, against Tunisia, will also be held there two days later, as will the quarter-final in which England will hope to be involved if they have won their group.

Osaka is located near the geographical heart of Japan. Known as the City of Waters due to its many rivers, it has developed into the main city of Japan's western's half and the third largest metropolis in the country.

People from Osaka are known among other Japanese as "Kuidaore" because of their ability to not only work hard but also to play hard afterwards.

The city is bidding to host the 2008 Olympics and is aiming to develop a reputation as an international city with initiatives such as the new Kansai International Airport.