Konnichiwa from Japan
After spending four days in Beijing, Buckingham postwoman, Vanessa Fears and her husband, Wayne, arrived in Tokyo on Thursday 19 September.
Having (only just) managed to negotiate their way around the sprawling Tokyo Metro system, Vanessa and Wayne made it to the Tokyo Stadium for the ‘spectacular’ opening ceremony, and the first game between Japan and Russia.
‘The Japanese are really passionate about rugby and the stadium was rocking, especially when Japan scored,’ said Vanessa. ‘The game finished 30-10 to Japan, who started their campaign with a bonus point win.
‘Beforehand, we had some fun in the fanzone, which included a scrum machine and a chance for some line out practice with Japanese volunteers as lifters!’
Entry to the 2019 Rugby World Cup fanzones, which are located across the country, is free. Fanzones have live screenings of matches on the big screen, rugby-themed activities, food and drinks, entertainment and unique regional content to celebrate each host city and match venue!
‘After watching New Zealand beat South Africa and Ireland beat a very disappointing Scotland, we did lots of sightseeing in Tokyo, including the famous Shibuya Crossing. We then travelled to Kobe via the (very fast) Shinkansen bullet train, which was fantastic, for the England vs USA game.
‘Kobe is a harbour city, which when lit up at night, looks really pretty. After Kobe, we travelled to Osaka and watched Argentina vs Tonga at the Hanazono Stadium. The next game we have tickets for is Georgia vs Fiji on Thursday 3 October. We went to see Osaka Castle and Himeji Castle, which are both spectacular.
‘There have been so many highlights to our trip so far - the people are so friendly and Japan is ridiculously clean. I can’t really pick one thing out because the whole trip has been mind-blowing.’
