Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium

Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium

The Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, host venue for the Rugby World Cup 2019™, is currently under construction in the Unosumai district and set for completion in Summer 2018. Located on the former grounds of the Kamaishi Higashi Junior High School and Unosumai Elementary School, the venue is a symbol of Kamaishi’s recovery from the disaster and hope for the future.

Both schools were inundated during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster but, thanks to the quick actions of the students on the day, all managed to escape to safety. The schools have now been rebuilt on the side of a nearby mountain, and the entire district has undergone a dramatic increase in height above sea level. As one of the worst hit areas in the city, Unosumai is starting to take new shape around the new addition of the stadium.

The stadium itself will be surrounded by the Unosumai River and Pacific Ocean on one side, and steep mountainous terrain on the other, providing it with stunning natural views quite unique to this area of Japan. Its design also seeks to embrace these natural elements, with the roof structure evoking imagery of bird’s wings and boat sails.

To ensure that priority it given to the reconstruction of the homes and livelihoods of those affected in the disaster, and that the stadium facilities will not go to waste after the tournament, the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium will be simple and compact. Although constructed to seat approximately 16,000 at the time of the Rugby World Cup 2019™, only 6,000 of these will be permanent facilities, with the additional 10,000 temporary seats removed after the tournament’s conclusion. In future, it will address the lack of sporting facilities along the Sanriku Coast, playing host to both domestic and international sporting and cultural events, whilst also acting as a city hub for health and recreation, and a lasting legacy of the Rugby World Cup 2019™.

Location

Unosumai Kamaishi, Iwate

Interviews and Columns

Interviews and articles documenting the history of rugby in Kamaishi, from the golden era of the Nippon Steel Kamaishi team, to the present.

Interview

Jiro Ishiyama / Born in 1957. After graduating from Noshiro Industrial High School in Akita Prefecture, he began work at the Nippon Steel Kamaishi Steelworks and joined the company rugby club. His playing position was prop. Ishiyama was a fixed, regular member of the team from 1979 – 1985, when they won the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship for seven years in a row. He also made 19 caps as a member of the Japanese National Rugby Team. He retired from rugby in 1988 and is now a representative of NPO Scrum Kamaishi, a non-profit organisation established by former rugby team mates and friends in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Ishiyama works for the Taisei Corporation Tohoku Bureau and is currently (as of March 2018) involved in the construction of the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium (prov. name).

Yoshihiko Sakuraba / Born in 1966. Joined Nippon Steel Kamaishi after graduating from Akita Technical High School. Lock. Retired in 2006. Achieved 43 caps with the Japan national team. Appeared in three Rugby World Cups (1987, 1995 & 1999). Currently works as ambassador for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Yu Saeki / Born in 1985, Saeki joined the Kamaishi Seawaves RFC after graduating from Kanto Gakuin University. His playing position is flanker. He was team captain from 2011 until the 2013 season and is currently serving a dual position as a player and coach.

Column

Rugby Magazine, May 2015 edition Dai Heart Column, Match 125 “Happiness on Oyafuko Street” By Dai Fujishima

Rugby Magazine, May 2015 edition Dai Heart Column, Match 125 “Happiness on Oyafuko Street” By Dai Fujishima

Kamaishi will host the Rugby World Cup. When I first heard this news, a certain memory sprang to mind.
The real-life fairy tale of October 7, 1981.
The location was Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture. The Kami-Nakashima Sports Ground – what had previously been little more than an empty field. The children of the steelworkers who lived in the company housing nearby called it “Field Number Six”, and used it to play casual games of baseball and tag. A proper grandstand on a ground like that would be laughable. It resembled a field of grass more than a sporting turf, and had a slight incline towards one end, giving the team on the lower end of the field a harder time pushing against the higher team in the scrum.
And yet, there on that field gathered a crowd of 15,000. Not 1,500. Fifteen thousand. In those days, the entire population of Kamaishi would have been just over 60,000.
The Nippon Steel Kamaishi Rugby Football Club was in the midst of its golden age, having just won a third consecutive national championship, and invited Ponsonby, a champion club from New Zealand, to play on that crude sporting ground. An absurdly large crowd of all ages gathered to watch the spectacle.

On March 14 this year (2015), Scrum Kamaishi, a non-profit organisation, hosted the “Tohoku & Christchurch Disaster Recovery Charity Event” at Tokyo’s Marunouchi Building.
Jiro Ishiyama, a former Kamaishi rugby player and national champion, and the man single-handedly responsible for initiating the Rugby World Cup host city bid, was the event’s keynote speaker, despite being a man of very few words. Gripping the microphone, he remarked, “The fact that I’m talking this much just goes to show how powerful rugby really is”. His deadpan expression drew a large laugh from the crowd.
Ishiyama had played against Ponsonby on that day. After the charity event finished, I mentioned the estimated crowd number of 15,000. Did he remember?
“Might be a bit of an exaggeration. There weren’t any proper grandstands, you see,” he explained. “But people were packed in tight, right up to the touch line, to the point where we had to be mindful not to bump into them. I’m pretty sure they could hear the sounds of us breathing and colliding with each other.”
The current crowd estimate was based on the numbers reported by “Rugby Nippon Ichi”, a commemorative magazine published in March that year by the Kamaishi Steelworks General Affairs Department’s Labour Division. There it had recorded a statement from a local policeman and security officer, estimating “somewhere between fifteen to seventeen thousand people”. The number of those watching the game from the roofs of neighbouring apartment blocks “must have been over two thousand”, while a post-match report stated “The crowd of 6000 held their breaths”.

7 October, 1981, Ponsonby 19 – 13 Nippon Steel Kamaishi. The Kami-Nakashima sports ground, once jam-packed with local supporters, is now the location for post-disaster temporary housing units.

 
Ishiyama spoke of the crowd that day saying, “I’d invited my parents from rural Akita Prefecture, but they couldn’t even get into the sports ground. Having said that, they aren’t the types to try push through other people and were at a bit of a loss. Luckily a friend of mine from work saw them and helped them through. I mean, a foreign team playing in Kamaishi! Even I was beside myself with excitement. Bryan Williams was there.”
The latter was the legendary All Blacks runner. He could move at the speed of a table tennis serve, leaving any would-be tacklers in his wake, and had scored 10 tries out of 38 test matches. A lawyer of Samoan decent, he was the full-back that afternoon.
Peter Fatialofa was the tighthead prop forming the scrum against Jiro Ishiyama. “He was the toughest opponent out there. You’re either born with that kind of strength or not – I was very envious.”
Fatialofa would go on to make an impact as the captain of West Samoa during the second-ever Rugby World Cup ten years later. In a local television interview, he remarked, “My job is transporting pianos, so I don’t need to bother with weight training.” While in Japan on the rugby program he served as the team driver. On the Japan side, the revered loosehead worked at the steelworks maintenance division.
The Ponsonby coach was a man named Maurice Trapp, who was the head of the Auckland team from ’87 to ’91, leading them to a victory of 86 wins out of 90 games, with only three losses and one draw. He also made a name for himself as a successful businessman.
Number 13 was Joe Stanley. He went on to join the All Black five years later and was on the champion team in the first ever Rugby World Cup.
Toru Wada, Koji Horaguchi, Michihito Chida, Yuji Matsuo, Shigetaka Mori, Naoyuki Tanifuji, Toshiaki Konno as kicker… The Kamaishi team put up a good fight. 6-0, 6-3, 6-9, 13-9, 13-15, 13-19, like a seesaw, only losing by a small margin.

In the amateur rugby days, the whistle that ended the match meant the start of something else. Socialising with the away team was the real aim of the game. “We started off at the hotel, then broke off and moved on to the bars of Oyafuko Street.” Ishiyama and his group drank at Silk Road, a small snack bar. As they sat shoulder to shoulder, everyone’s laughter filled the Sanriku night air. “Thinking back on it now, it was the ultimate joy. Getting to play rugby in Kamaishi against a team from New Zealand – and having that many locals come to watch.”
The crowd numbers were written on magazine pages in ballpark figures of ten thousand, estimated by a straight-laced policeman to a straight-laced editor from the General Policy Division. No tickets were sold, so there is no way of knowing the real number for sure. So let’s just leave it at this.
Once upon a time, the All Black’s biggest stars came to Kamaishi, and an astounding number of people sat upon the grass. The bars in town were left with empty fridges.

※This article was published on 25 March 2015 in the May edition of “Rugby Magazine” and republished here in full with permission from Baseball Magazine Co., Ltd, and author Dai Fujishima. We thank them for their cooperation.

Interview with Mr. Yu Saeki

Profile: Yu Saeki

Born in 1985, Saeki joined the Kamaishi Seawaves RFC after graduating from Kanto Gakuin University. His playing position is flanker. He was team captain from 2011 until the 2013 season and is currently serving a dual position as a player and coach.

Early Encounters with Kamaishi Rugby

My father encouraged me to begin playing rugby when I was in 5th grade at elementary school, and I fell in love with the game immediately. I remember thinking “Wow, rugby is so much fun!!”, and that feeling hasn’t changed since.

I have one particularly unforgettable memory of Kamaishi Rugby from my Kanto Gakuin University days. During my fourth year, after winning two consecutive university championship titles, we had a friendly match against Kamaishi in Yokohama. It was my job to organise the accommodation facilities, and I made a reservation with a simple business hotel close to the station. However, when I told my coach, he was furious. “The Kamaishi team is coming all this way, what on earth are you thinking?!”
I hurriedly changed the booking to a much nicer hotel.
Apparently, back when Kanto Gakuin was still a weak team, the superior Kamaishi side had agreed to train with them on several occasions, which had a huge impact on the team’s improvement. “We have owed them a huge debt ever since. It’s time we returned the favour,” I was told. From then onwards, I thought of Kamaishi as a very impressive team.

I reconnected with Kamaishi again the very next year, when I participated in a Rugby 7s tournament hosted by the city. While there, I was invited to come play for Kamaishi full time. Having no knowledge of the city, nor any personal connections there, I couldn’t quite make up my mind and ended up returning home undecided. However, not long after, Mr. Ikemura, the head coach at that time, came to visit me at my university. He spoke to me of the challenges being faced by the Kamaishi Seawaves club team, and I became more and more excited at the prospect of such an interesting experience. Once I made the decision to go, I had no more concerns about moving to an unknown city and balancing rugby with full-time work. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to live somewhere where I could hold down a decent job while also playing my beloved sport.

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster

The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster occurred in 2011, during my fourth year with the club.
I escaped to safety on higher ground, but my workplace, located in the center of town, was destroyed. Watching as the streets were swallowed up by the tsunami, I thought Kamaishi was finished.

Although the tsunami didn’t come as far as the area where the team was based, all power, gas and water supplies had been cut off, so the players and their families took refuge in the club house together. It took us the entire next day to confirm the safety of all the athletes and staff.
Two days after the disaster struck, the foreign players suggested going into town saying, “We might be able to help anyone we find along the way.” So they headed off in the direction of the city, returning with grief and heartbreak written across their faces. “It’s really bad…”.

After we heard what state the city was in, someone suggested we volunteer ourselves to help. We went around to various places saying, “We have a team full of young, strong men. Is there anything we can do?”
We helped out at the hospital by moving beds and oxygen tanks to the lower floors, then transported aid supplies into the disaster area.
As time went on, people’s needs changed. We heard that the kids from the evacuation centers were suffering from a lack of exercise, so we invited them to the rugby grounds to play with us, then have a bath and hot a meal at the club house. Seeing the smiles on their faces gave our spirits a boost too.

Despite everything, as we continued with our volunteer activities, locals would call out to us, “What’s happening with the rugby? Aren’t you playing?”
“Not sure…this isn’t really the time to be playing rugby…”, we answered, only to be told, “This is exactly the time for the Seawaves to be playing rugby! We need something to encourage us!”
Upon hearing these words, we thought, “Right! We should do what only we can do – rugby!”
With that, any misgivings we had suddenly vanished.

We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to play that season, but finally, in April, news came that team activities would resume from May onwards. It was a huge relief for us all.
Once we started playing again, we gained a lot of new supporters and received many generous donations as well, for which we were very grateful.
Throughout that year I came to the realisation that even if we wanted to play rugby, that desire alone didn’t necessarily mean we’d be able to. I also felt that we needed to become a stronger and better team for all those who were supporting us. The other team members said the same.

Living together so closely in the club house after evacuation created a strong bond between us, and the team become one like we never had before.
Although there had already been discussions about me becoming team captain at the end of the last season, I had initially refused. The previous captain had been former All Blacks player, Pita Alatini – an amazing man and incredible athlete, whose shoes I didn’t have a hope of filling.
Yet when I was approached again, after everything that had happened, I accepted. I’d never been a team captain before and, to be honest, I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I was determined to do my best and to be true to myself. Besides, each and every player was putting in their best effort, so I don’t remember having to try too hard to unify the team – They were a huge help.
I had a lot to think about that year. Time and time again I asked myself things like, “What does it mean to play rugby for this town?” and, “What kind of team should we be?”. Considering the answers to these questions had a positive effect on me, and became an important asset for the team.

Everything was extra special that season, and we were just so grateful to be able to play. That was the year I discovered the joy of rugby all over again.

Falling One Step Short

In 2017, we advanced to the “Japan Rugby Top Challenge League” for the first time, but unfortunately came in seventh out of eight teams. There were so many matches where we only lost by a tiny margin, but that lead to a significant gap in the final results.
What are we missing? In order to advance to the top league, each individual player must figure that out within themselves.
Personally, I wonder whether we have a strong enough idea of, and proper respect towards, the true culture of Kamaishi Rugby. As someone who has played for this team for such a long time, I regret that I’ve failed to pass that on to my other teammates. For the younger players who did not experience the disaster, it is up to me to make sure they know that our current situation cannot be taken for granted, and that we couldn’t play at all if it weren’t for the help of the background staff, sponsors, and fans that support us.

The Rugby World Cup 2019™ in Kamaishi

I’m so excited for Kamaishi to host the Rugby World Cup. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for a regional city to host such an event, and I hope I can watch it alongside everyone else in the stadium.
It also makes this year crucial for the Seawaves. When I wonder how we can encourage more general interest in rugby, I think the most simple but effective means is to become a better team ourselves. It would be a big deal if we made the top league, right? I think more people would take interest in the World Cup too if we did, and that motivation will help us take it that one step further.
As a member of the rugby community, I have to think beyond 2019 as well. It’s important to leave something behind after the cup, so we can pass on the host city legacy to the future of Kamaishi City.

Interview with Mr. Yoshihiko Sakuraba

Profile: Yoshihiko Sakuraba

Born in 1966. Joined Nippon Steel Kamaishi after graduating from Akita Technical High School. Lock. Retired in 2006. Achieved 43 caps with the Japan national team. Appeared in three Rugby World Cups (1987, 1995 & 1999). Currently works as ambassador for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

My first encounter with rugby

I began playing rugby in my second year at Akita Technical High School. Up until then, I had played baseball and dreamt of someday making it to the famous Hanshin Koshien Stadium. However, looking back now, I felt as though something didn’t fit. Perhaps it was that the ball was too small. Then, one day, the head of the rugby club approached me and said, “You’re tall! Why don’t you think about joining the rugby club?”. From there, my interest in rugby began.
In the same year that I joined the rugby club, I played in the National High School Rugby Tournament in Hanazono Rugby Stadium, a place we referred to as the Holy Land of rugby. It was my first big rugby event and I felt very lucky to be a part of it. That year, we finished in the top 8 teams. However, the year after, we won the tournament and became the national champions.

In my third year of high school, I was approached by Nippon Steel Kamaishi. I had seen them play on television as a child and remember thinking, “Could there really be a team that strong in this region?”. From the time I began rugby, I had hoped that one day I could play alongside this great Kamaishi team.
One day, Mr. Masafumi Sano, a graduate of my high school, and Mr. Yuji Matsuo, a former Japanese union rugby player and sports journalist, came to visit me. I was shocked and overwhelmed. On the day that Kamaishi achieved their seventh consecutive victory in All-Japan Rugby Football Championships at the National Stadium in Tokyo, I took part in the minor match before the tournament began. I distinctively remember the vibrant spirit and enthusiasm of the Kamaishi supporters as they cheered energetically from the stands. It touched me that they would cheer for us too. I have Kamaishi to thank for who I am today and for all of the relationships I have built.

From the time I graduated high school and entered society, my level of focus and strength transformed remarkably. At the beginning, I couldn’t keep up this new way of living. In high school, I thought I could succeed at rugby using only my strength and height. However, once I began to play with the Kamaishi team, I learned the importance of technique and strategy, and gained a new sense of values. It was a dream to be amongst such superb players, some of whom even played with the national team, and I felt as though I had achieved my goal.

The decline of Nippon Steel Kamaishi and the beginning of Kamaishi Seawaves

After seven consecutive victories in the national championship, the team’s success began to decline. We were no longer in a position to become Japan’s top team. I had once dreamt of playing in the National Stadium full to capacity but, unfortunately, I was never able to fulfil this dream. As I got older, I noticed that my viewpoint as a player had changed. I believed that the captain of a team was responsible for unifying and strengthening that team and they must consider the whole team rather than just themselves. I thought that was what our team lacked. However, I eventually realised that each individual player is responsible for their own actions and I needed to start thinking about what I should do as an individual. From that point on, I started to take action.

In 2000, Nippon Steel Kamaishi as we knew it could no longer continue and a decision was made to become a community-based team instead. As expected, many of the club members had a negative reaction to this change, myself included. However, realising that our dissatisfaction wouldn’t change the reality, I decided to move forward with a positive attitude. Nippon Steel Kamaishi was renowned for their deep connection with the community and to no surprise, becoming a local club team only strengthened this connection further. The local people campaigned for our club’s survival and carried out petitions, making the establishment of the ‘Kamaishi Seawaves’ possible. Support such as this is the reason that Kamaishi rugby continues to thrive today.
In addition, we are grateful for the support of our sponsor companies, who have provided employment to the players, and together with our supporters and fans, we have prevailed through good times and bad.

March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. At that time…

Some of our team and staff members were injured in the disaster. Some lost family and friends, as well as their workplace. It was a dire situation and we felt that, “Now is not the time to play rugby, we need to work together and do something to help our city”. So, from there, we took charge and led volunteer activities. Foreign players who were strongly encouraged to return home instead chose to stay and contribute to the relief efforts. Their selflessness was awe-inspiring and brought the team closer together than ever before. As we continued with our volunteer activities, our connection with the local community grew stronger and stronger. As a result, our team and city was supported by people from within the Tohoku region and beyond. Once again, I was able to comprehend the profound influence that rugby has on this city. Before the disaster, rugby had always been there. However, once the disaster had struck and rugby was no longer being played, people began to notice its absence and a new sense of appreciation for rugby was born.

To this day, the environment surrounding rugby in Kamaishi is changing. In 2017, we advanced to the Top Challenge League, the second-highest level of rugby in Japan. Despite only coming in seventh place out of eight teams, we are working hard to push forward in the hope that our efforts will bring success to the region once again.

Rugby World Cup 2019 Host City

The Rugby World Cup is coming to Kamaishi, the ‘city of rugby’.
As someone who was fortunate enough to have played in three Rugby World Cups, I can understand how precious the experience of playing in front of the world is for these players. The World Cup is not just about the matches. Rather, it is a competition that determines the best team in the world through a brilliant display of raw talent, hard work and determination. My role is to spread this message.

Of the 12 host cities, Kamaishi is the smallest and it is for this reason that the voice of the people can be heard. We are ready to use our strengths and welcome rugby fans from all over the world. Regardless of language abilities, a message can always be conveyed through a person’s warmth and smile. That is what I want our visitors to take home.

Through the support of those from around the world, we are fighting to overcome the devastating effects of the disaster. Now, the World Cup has granted us a platform for delivering positive news to the world. I hope to contribute to the success of the World Cup as an individual and as a team with a feeling of gratitude.

Interview with Mr. Jiro Ishiyama

Profile: Jiro Ishiyama

Born in 1957. After graduating from Noshiro Industrial High School in Akita Prefecture, he began work at the Nippon Steel Kamaishi Steelworks and joined the company rugby club. His playing position was loosehead prop. Ishiyama was a fixed, regular member of the team from 1979 – 1985, when they won the All-Japan Rugby Football Championship for seven years in a row. He also made 19 caps as a member of the Japanese National Rugby Team. He retired from rugby in 1988 and is now a representative of NPO Scrum Kamaishi, a non-profit organisation established by former rugby team mates and friends in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

In 1975, the Nippon Steel Kamaishi Rugby Coach, Mr. Nakanishi, came as a scout to my school in Akita Prefecture, Noshiro Industrial High School. However, he wasn’t interested in the rugby club, which hadn’t won one game in the prefectural tournament, but the national champion basketball club. He had come to recruit some of the “tall and quick footed” basketball players to the Nippon Steel Kamaishi Rugby Team. However, the rugby coach at the time put my name forward as “a good runner”. Since I’d been picked up by chance, rather than as a particularly promising athlete, I didn’t really join the Kamaishi team thinking, “I’m going be great”, so much as, “Oh good, I’ve found a job”.
At the same time, I did think it would be amazing if, one day, I had a chance at a selection team or even got to play for Japan.

When I joined the club, there were already several players who were also on the national team. Playing alongside them, I did start to think that maybe, “If I can be as good as these guys I might be able to play for Japan one day too…”.
Training was incredibly tough, and I had a hard time keeping up at first. Everything, from my speed, to my strength, to my body size, was wrong, and it was all I could do to just make it through a day’s session.
Under the dim lighting of the playing field, training always ended with repeated 30 second 200m sprints. Most of us were unable to walk by the time we were done – we’d just crawl on our hands and knees until we reached the goal line. I remember it all vividly.

With that kind of training, my physical condition improved and I become much bigger – I could even keep up with the senior team members. This showed me that I was levelling up as a player.
However, I’ve always been a negative thinker and before games I’d be worrying about things like, “What happens if we lose in the scrum?” and, “If the forwards get overpowered the backs will get pushed back”. I tried extra hard during training sessions to get over this anxiety. During the games I’d just try and put everything into the next move. To be able to do that over and over again, I had to develop an inexhaustible stamina. It was because of these efforts, I think, that I was often praised for being an athlete that “puts in the work, whenever and wherever he is”.

“The Northern Ironmen”: Seven Consecutive All-Japan Rugby Championship Victories

1976, the year I began with the club, was the first time we won the All-Japan Rugby Championship and became the number one team in Japan.
After I became a fixed player in 1978, we went on to achieve another seven championship victories in a row, but I think that was just luck on my part. I got to play during the height of our success because of the hard work put in by the players above and before me.

I’ll never forget playing the All-Japan Rugby Championship grand final in front of a fully-packed National Stadium.
The first tairyobata(*1) I saw in the crowd was the “Victory-Maru”(*2) . I remember being surprised that there was really a boat in Kamaishi with that name. I’ll also always remember the victory parade that was held in Kamaishi upon our return. The locals had dropped everything to line the streets, cheering for us with huge smiles on their faces. There were even people waving from their windows and throwing confetti. Although a little embarrassed at the time, it was also the happiest I’d ever been. I wish I could go back and see it all again.

*1. Colorful flags traditionally hoisted above fishing boats returning to harbor to signify a large catch had been made that day.

*2. The suffix “maru” is traditionally added to the names of Japanese merchant boats.

Giving Back: The Rugby World Cup 2019 Host City Bid

I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for my time in Kamaishi.
Ever since leaving the club I’d wanted to give back in some way but, before I knew it, years had passed. Then the earthquake and tsunami hit and I thought, “I have to do something!”

On March 11 2011, I was way down in Shizuoka but, even there, you could still feel the earthquake. Having lived in Kamaishi, I immediately thought of the tsunami danger and evacuated to a hospital on higher ground. Once there I watched, unable to believe my own eyes, as TV footage showed the tsunami attack the Tohoku coastline.
Afterwards, I asked around to see if there was anything I could do, as I still had a lot of rugby connections. Two weeks later I heard that the Tohoku Expressway was finally reopened, so I packed my car with containers of kerosene and everyday necessities, and drove all the way to Kamaishi. I went around to all the evacuation centers in Katagishi and the middle of town, where I found many of my friends.

In May 2011, I met with the General Manager of the Kamaishi Seawaves, Yoshiyuki Takahashi, and after talking about the state of the team, we began to discuss what could be done to help the recovery effort. “The Rugby World Cup is going to be held in Japan in eight years’ time, do you think we could hold a match in Kamaishi?”. We thought that hosting the cup might bring new hope to the city.

hold a match in Kamaishi?”. We thought that hosting the cup might bring new hope to the city.
However, it didn’t feel like the right time to broach the subject, and we didn’t want to burden the people of Kamaishi, so we began by gathering friends and acquaintances from outside the city to start the campaign. I remember a lot of people telling us, “You can’t do that,” or, “That’s impossible”. Then, at the Host City Candidate Seminar, we were told that the official stipulations included a condition: the host venue should be in a meaningful location. “Well then, Kamaishi definitely deserves to be considered!” I thought.

Four months after the disaster, I took my proposal to the Mayor, Mr. Takenori Noda, asking him, “I want to put in a bid to host the Rugby World Cup in Kamaishi. Is it okay if those of us outside the city get started with the process?”.
The Mayor was completely baffled at first, but said he was grateful that everyone wanted to help.
From then on, I gathered together the members of an NPO (non-profit organisation) set up by the rugby community to aid the disaster recovery, and we began working towards the host town bid. The more progress we made, the more local citizens in Kamaishi came on board.

Eventually, we joined with Iwate Prefecture and together achieved the official host city selection. I later heard that, when the selectors went to visit Kamaishi, they were very impressed by the wonderful presentation given by the city. I think they must have been won over by the people of Kamaishi, the creativity of the host bid staff, and everyone’s raw enthusiasm.

Now (as of March 2018), I’m working at the construction site for the Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium (prov. name). As the “main culprit” behind the host city bid, I wanted to help out in some way, and one of my rugby friends found me a place there.

Construction is scheduled to finish in the summer of 2018, but my contract will end slightly earlier. Although I’d love to be in Kamaishi to enjoy the atmosphere during the World Cup, I’ll probably stay away. Why? I seem to bring bad weather with me wherever I go, and if I’m there it will definitely rain. I want the matches to go ahead under sunny, blue skies.
I’ve done everything I can, so from here on out it is up to the warm hearts and wonderful hospitality of the people of Kamaishi to make the tournament a success.
I hope the stadium will come to symbolize the end of Kamaishi’s pain and sadness.