The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Oita students get ready for RWC
OITA — In the 2019 Rugby World Cup, which kicks off on Sept. 20, five matches are to be held in Oita city in October. New Zealand, gunning for a third straight championship, will be among six rugby powerhouses, including Wales and Australia, to compete at Oita Stadium in the pool stages before the knockout phases begin.
The world’s supreme rugby tournament will be participated in by a total of 20 teams, including that of host country Japan. This is the first time that the RWC will be hosted by an Asian country. A total of 48 matches will be held in 12 cities across the country, with the final match scheduled for Nov. 2 in Yokohama.
In Oita Prefecture, Oita and Beppu cities have been designated as official team camp sites. In preparation for the quadrennial international event, the cities’ arrangements for hosting the matches and camps have been making progress, and eagerness to welcome visitors has been rising. The city’s atmosphere will be dominated by rugby this autumn.
Beppu has been selected as the camp site by New Zealand and other teams. In front of Beppu Station, the gateway to the city, a huge hourglass inside a monument resembling a rugby ball is marking the days until the opening of the World Cup.
Standing beside the hourglass is a statue of Kumahachi Aburaya (18631935), known as the father of Beppu tourism. Aburaya’s statue, now decked out in a Japan national team jersey featuring cherry blossoms, welcomes train passengers.
In December 2018, a group of six students from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) gathered in front of Beppu Station to inspect the route of a town walking tour planned for foreigners who will visit Beppu during the RWC.
The students usually serve as guides for a town walking tour organized by the Beppu Onsen promotional association. To hospitably welcome rugby fans coming to Beppu from around the world, they have come up with a new tour plan with association head Yoshihiro Hirano, 67, and launched related activities.
The tour starts and finishes in front of the statue. The group inspected the Umezono-dori street lined with drinking and eating establishments, where the atmosphere is reminiscent of the Showa era (1926-1989), and the Yayoi Tengu, a long-nosed goblin figure produced as a protective charm of the shopping street. The group devised a course that can be covered on foot in about an hour.
The final destination of the inspection tour was Takegawara Onsen spa, which was founded during the Meiji era (1868-1912).
As Hirano, who accompanied the group, explained that the spa’s name derives from the fact that its roof was made from “take” (bamboo) rather than “yanegawara” (roof tiles), the students translated his statements into English and Korean as they practiced acting as guides.
The APU group, the Tourism and Hospitality Association, has 25 student members. The association plans to increase its membership and establish an expert team to deal with foreign tourists during the RWC.
“Old-fashioned back alleys and ‘power spots’ [locations thought to be flowing with mystical energy], such as the Yayoi Tengu, please foreign tourists. By incorporating these attractions in a walking tour course, we’d like to disseminate the charms of Beppu,” Hirano said.
Saaya Ishibashi, 21, a junior at APU and a member of the group, said enthusiastically: “I want people from across the world to come to like Oita. To this end, we’d like to welcome them with maximum omotenashi Japanese traditional hospitality.”
Events for participants to learn about and experience rugby have been held in various places of Oita Prefecture. They were intended to expand the angles from which to enjoy the sport and give a boost to the upcoming rugby tournament. “When it comes to throwing a pass, imagine throwing it underhand” and “You can kick the ball well if you kick it in the bottom half near its center.” Such tips are among the advice given by a former Japan Rugby Top League player and others to participating children during the event called “The First Experience of Rugby,” which was held in November 2018 in central Oita city.
The event was organized by the rugby football unions of the prefecture and municipalities. Since 2015 when it was decided to hold RWC matches in the prefecture, similar events have been held in various places mainly on weekends.
A grinning Yasuhiro Iwashita, 9, who participated in the event, said: “This is the first time I’ve touched a rugby ball. Now I want see a rugby match live.”