In The Scrum | Rugby World Cup: typhoon be damned, fans root for the home team as Japan digs out from another natural disaster
- Historical victory for hosts at RWC is tempered by the damage from Typhoon Hagibis less than 24 hours earlier
Halloween is a very big deal in Japan, with ghosts and goblins and glowing jack of lanterns festooned all over Tokyo these days. Looking to get into the festive spirit is the guy standing right in front of me with a head the size of the Great Pumpkin.
We’re shoehorned into the Rugby World Cup Fanzone in the middle of Tokyo to watch the last pool match between Japan and Scotland and while the view could not be any worse, the stakes could not be any higher.
The winner will go on to the final eight, the loser is likely to go home. For a valiant Japan team that would be a bitter pill to swallow. Still, the drama on the pitch is nothing compared with what is happening off it and the fact the match is even taking place is beyond surreal.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Typhoon Hagibis tore through the country, leaving in its wake at least 35 deaths and a litany of floods and landslides. Not far from the fanzone is Tokyo Bay, where a Panamanian cargo ship sank killing five people in Kanagawa Prefecture hours earlier. The area was one of the hardest hit by the storm as vast residential areas were left submerged when rivers flooded.
Just south of Kanagawa is Yokohama, where the highly anticipated match-up the day before between England and France was cancelled. At the time there seemed no chance Japan vs Scotland would happen either one day later.
