Japan inspire a nation through binding talent from across the globe

Six overseas recruits who are thriv

same for the other players. The boys who weren’t born here came here young and playing for Japan is a chance to repay the country for those opportunities.”

This cultural mash-up shows no signs of alienating the Japanese public, who traditionally value baseball and sumo more. By now, everyone knows rugby has the most lax residency rules of any major sport and virtually every country takes advantage. Where would England be without the Vunipola brothers, born in Australia and New Zealand to Tongan parents, or Manu Tuilagi, who entered the world in Fogapoa, Samoa? England’s coaching staff, meanwhile, have roots or passports from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

At the same time, French back play has been strengthened by the addition of Alivereti Raka – a “Naitasiri Turaga”, or kid from the interior and mountainous highlands of Fiji. Australia and New Zealand supplement their talent pool with “captured players” from the southern islands, while Wales, Scotland and Ireland also shake family trees and the residency rule for fresh blood. It was British Empire rugby that first opened the doors to useful players from colonies. Only the scale is more striking in this World Cup’s host nation.

If Japanese rugby is the land of the rising fun, the world is eager to know more about how it all works. First up at the hotel was a secondrow forward who was born Petrus Willem van der Walt in Brits, South Africa, came to Japan in 2014 and earned a call-up under the threeyear rule – which is being extended to five by World Rugby from 2021.

Better known as Wimpie van der Walt, the 30-year-old lock says: “I don’t think it matters at all that there are players from different countries in the Japan team. We bond well. I’ve seen people playing rugby after the games – Japanese kids – so that’s going to grow the game of rugby in Japan.

“It’s been amazing support from the Japanese people. Last week 46 per cent of the people watched the game. It’s amazing to think of 50million watching our game.”

Then we talked to Lafaele, who says of his somewhat conflicted parents in Samoa: “My family – they’ve had my back since day one, so I’m trying to make them proud.”

Next up was Isileli Nakajima, born in Tonga but another residency-claimer who gave up part of his identity: “They think I’m half Japanese but I’m not. My last name I changed to my wife’s name. Maybe the young generation will love rugby instead of other sports. Maybe Japan in the future will win the World Cup and my son will be captain.”

It takes considerable powers of integration to bind so many disparate cultures together, but coach Jamie Joseph – who played for his native New Zealand as well as Japan later in his career – is the bridge. Japan’s captain, of course, is another former Kiwi, Michael Leitch, while Pieter Labuschagne, James Moore, Hendrik Tui and Luke Thompson are other Brave Blossoms whose presence contradicts the traditional image of Japan as a closed or mono-ethnic society. They call themselves the “Glocal” team – a compound of global and local.

There were 1.46million foreign workers in Japan last year in a population of 126.8million. So 16 out of 31 non-japanese born in the nation’s rugby squad is out of kilter. Except that rugby’s regulations make it possible, while the incomers all speak of a burning fidelity to the cause. Visitors to the camp speak of non-japanese-born players trying to learn the national anthem, “Kimigayo”, with help from team-mates.

Leitch, who was originally reluctant to accept the captaincy, thinking it was a job for a local, said after the win against Samoa: “I’ve played in a few stadiums, won in Brighton against South Africa and also played in Twickenham, but that was the best stadium I’ve played in in my life.”

Now eager to surpass the indignity of 2015, when they won three group games but went out, Japan face a Pool A decider against a Scottish team who will arguably be slight underdogs in the last match before the quarter-finals.

Lomano Lemeki, who was born in Auckland of Tongan heritage, and now speaks excellent Japanese after 10 years in the country, says: “We don’t play too many tier-one nations. We’re getting better, but we’re not where we need to be in terms of the big countries: the All Blacks and Australia and the European teams. If we do progress through this weekend, then we’ll be in the top eight. Normally we might win a few games but when we face a top-four team we get brushed aside. So time will tell where we are at the moment, but we’re on the right path.”

World Rugby is extending the three-year rule to five to “ensure a close, credible and established link between a union and players, which is good for rugby and good for fans”. In the unlikely setting of Japan, “links” between peoples and life stories are forging themselves not from opportunism but togetherness and success. The flag of convenience has seldom flown so high.