Unosumai Memorial Stadium in Kamaishi, Japan, will host two matches during the '19 Rugby World Cup. GETTY IMAGES
Kamaishi, one of the host cities for next year’s Rugby World Cup and "still recovering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami" in '11, held the inaugural match at its newly built Unosumai Memorial Stadium on Sunday, according to Jack Tarrant of REUTERS. More than 6,000 fans packed into the stadium, which will host two matches during the '19 tournament and has been "built on land that was previously the site of the local school that was wiped out by the tsunami seven years ago." Kamaishi lost 1,145 of its citizens in the wake of the tsunami and was chosen to be a World Cup city "as a symbol of Japan’s desire to use the tournament, as well as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, to promote reconstruction in the area." On Sunday, the Seawaves faced Yamaha Jubilo, a "poignant" fixture given the history shared between the two sides. Just months after the tsunami, Yamaha was the first team to visit the area in a fixture against the Seawaves "charged with emotion." Sunday "was an emotional day too," but for "drastically different reasons," as officials, players and local residents spoke of the hope that the stadium represents. Japan rugby int'l Ayumu Goromaru said that it was "important to all of Japanese rugby to come back to Kamaishi." He said, "Being able to be back here today is a really important thing for us to be involved in. ... For Japan as a whole, the earthquake was a huge shock so to have this stadium here now is a real sense of history" (REUTERS, 8/19). In Tokyo, Kakumi Kobayashi reported the facility, the only stadium newly constructed for the World Cup among the 12 venues, was "built on a riverside lot in the Unosumai area where most buildings were washed away." Officials in the city said that temporary stands will be built before the World Cup so the stadium can accommodate 16,000 spectators. Kamaishi (KYODO, 8/19).
