No.90 Towards the Rugby World Cup

The mayor's column for the May 15, 2019 issue was suspended due to the mayoral election, but I have now been entrusted with a third term thanks to the support of the citizens. I will continue this column, so I appreciate your continued support.
For the past eight years since taking office as the Mayor of Inagi City, I have been fully committed to the development of Inagi City, while also working in collaboration with the Tokyo Mayors' Association and the National Mayors' Association, as well as providing support to disaster-stricken areas during large-scale disasters. I will continue to serve as the Chairperson of the Special Committee on Waste Management Measures and the Vice Chairperson of the Special Committee on Disaster Prevention within the National Mayors' Association, and I will continue to promote Inagi City nationwide, focusing on environmental and disaster prevention aspects.
Well, this year the Rugby World Cup will finally be held in Japan. It will be the first time the tournament is held in Asia, and Japan has qualified for the tournament for nine consecutive times since the first tournament in 1987.
It is wonderful that a global competition is being held in a nearby location, and as the Mayor of Inagi City advocates for "one sport for each citizen," I have thought that this could be an opportunity to promote sports development.
However, there were no accommodation facilities or practice locations in the city, so we were unable to attract pre-camp training for the participating countries. We have been considering whether we could at least hold some rugby-related events.
By the way, many of you may not know, but there is a vast athletic facility of Nihon University located within the city. It is situated in the hilly area of the Sakahama Hirao district, adjacent to Tokyo Metropolitan Wakaba Comprehensive High School and Inagi Dai 2 Junior High School. The site covers approximately 126,000 square meters, which is equivalent to 2.7 Tokyo Domes, and features two artificial turf fields dedicated to rugby and soccer, a running course that includes cross-country, and a student dormitory, making it an athlete development facility called "Sports Nihon University Athletic Park Inagi."

In Inagi City, we have been exploring collaboration with Nihon University through the rugby club for several years. The city is cooperating in the development of these sports facilities, while Nihon University is also cooperating in the development of the surrounding area, participating in local volunteer activities, and considering the future dispatch of students to Elementary and Junior High Schools, and we are continuing discussions.
This time, thanks to the proposal of the Nihon University Rugby Club, we were able to hold a rugby children's experience event in the morning of May 4, 2019, and in the afternoon, the official match of the 8th Kanto University Spring Tournament (Nihon University vs. Hosei University) was realized. Additionally, a tent was set up to introduce the World Cup.
As far as we know, there are no children's rugby teams in the city, so we were concerned about the level of participation in the morning event. However, to our surprise, over 100 children participated. This showed us the high level of interest in rugby leading up to the World Cup.
The children received guidance from the older members of the Nihon University rugby team, and at the end, they had a practice match of tag rugby. In the afternoon, they watched an official match and cheered enthusiastically for both teams. I was impressed by how quickly children can adapt to a new environment.
In the future, the city will consider incorporating dishes from the countries participating in the World Cup into the School Lunch menu, and will explore further initiatives in collaboration with the Nihon University Rugby Club. Let's all enjoy the Rugby World Cup together!