Everything about Rugby Union In Japan totally explained
Japan has the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world and the sport has been played there for over a century. There are 125,000 Japanese rugby players.
The Japanese team are known for their speed and resourcefulness but have sometimes been at a disadvantage due to their relatively smaller size compared to Southern hemisphere and European players. This is changing, however, as the Japanese diet increasingly includes more meat at the expense of fish and resembles Western diets more closely. (As Japan is the nation of
sumo, there's no obvious reason why they can't produce large rugby union players.)
The national team is also usually reinforced for the World Cup by one or two foreigners who qualify under IRB regulations. Of these
Andrew Miller and
Andrew McCormick, both from New Zealand, and
Sinali Latu from Tonga have been the most successful.
Governing body
Rugby union in Japan is governed by the Japan Rugby Football Union.
The Japan Rugby Football Union was officially formed on November 30, 1926 and is a full member of the
International Rugby Board with one seat on the Executive Council.
Domestic competitions
Top League
In 2003, the
Top League was created to improve the overall standards of Japanese rugby union. It is Japan's first nationwide league and is a first step towards professionalism. So far the league is proving to be successful with many closely fought and exciting games, though attendances at games are generally not high and tend to be limited to diehard fans and company employees.
See also
2007-08 Top League (fifth season).
All-Japan Championship
This is played at the end of the season and includes Top League teams, the top two universities and the champion club team.
Microsoft Cup
The Microsoft Cup is a knock-out Japanese rugby tournament sponsored by Microsoft Japan. It is played between the top teams of the Top League.
University championship rugby
The Japanese University rugby championships are held annually.
Clubs championship rugby
The fifteenth annual clubs championship final was held on February 17, 2008 at Chichibunomiya between
Tamariba Club and
Rokko Seahawks and won by the former 21-0. The winner (Tamariba) will enter the first round of the All-Japan championships.
National High School Rugby Tournament
The National High School Rugby Tournament is held annually at Kintetsu Hanazono rugby stadium in East Osaka, Japan from the end of December to early January. All 47 Prefectures of Japan are represented, with four extra teams (one from Hokkaido, one from Tokyo, and two from Osaka prefecture) to make up the numbers.
National team
The national team (which is named "The
Cherry Blossoms") is ranked 17th worldwide by the
International Rugby Board (IRB) as of
15 October 2007 (
IRB World Rankings)
With Asia's relative weakness at rugby union, Japan struggles to get serious competition. The result is that Japan is caught in the middle: a big fish in the small pond of Asian rugby union, but still at present a relative minnow in the vast ocean of international rugby union.
Super Cup
The Super Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Romania and United States. It was previously known as the Super Powers Cup, and has now been replaced by the
IRB Nations Cup.
Pacific Nations Cup
The
Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between six Pacific rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Australia 'A' and the Junior All Blacks (Australia's and New Zealand's second XVs, respectively).
Asian Five Nations
The
Asian Five Nations is a new competition to develop rugby in Asia, starting in 2008. Details of the 2008 competition are
here.
Popularity
As a team sport rugby union is a distant third in the popularity ratings behind
baseball and
soccer, and this reality is unlikely to change until Japan's national rugby union team becomes consistently successful on the world stage, especially at the Rugby World Cup.
At present rugby union is rarely seen on the terrestrial TV channels, and is mainly restricted to CS and cable subscription channels, which hinders its growth. (Sometimes the bigger games are shown on
NHK TV - for example the
University championship rugby final and the
Microsoft Cup.)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Rugby Union In Japan'.
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