Many were playing together for the first time, including a United States fan who had come to Japan for the World Cup and found the team on social media, so they used the journey to get to know each other. On the Sunday after Japan's pool-stage victory against Samoa, they gathered at a train station in Yokohama, about half an hour from the city centre.ĭue to a lack of players they were combining with another team, Odawara, to take on a touring side from Beijing, but they had to make it to the ground first.Īfter queuing behind a crowd of schoolchildren for a public bus, the players eventually squeezed on and made their way up the hill to the sports complex where the match would be played. Tokyo Gaijin Rugby Football Club is a team of ex-pats and Japanese players - Gaijin means foreigner - based in the city. How Japan became a force to be reckoned with.Instead they rent pitches from the local council once a week.Ī culture of long working days means there is rarely time to train and, with sports such as baseball much more popular, only a few clubs can field more than one team. There are around 80 amateur clubs registered with the Japanese Rugby Football Union (JRFU) in Tokyo, but very few can afford a permanent home because of high property prices. It does not, however, seem quite like that at grass-roots level. That fairytale was ended by South Africa on Sunday, but afterwards Japan head coach Jamie Joseph said Japanese rugby was in a good place now. Japan proved their ability against tier-one teams in the pool stage, powering past Ireland and Scotland to reach the last eight. Rugby has been front-page news in the country after the Brave Blossoms' historic run to a first World Cup quarter-final. Mud is nowhere to be seen on artificial pitches and the clubhouse after? There is no clubhouse, although karaoke could be on the cards later. There is still rain, sometimes typhoons, but it is much warmer, with temperatures around 20C.
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January 2023
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