In the scrum | Rugby World Cup: looking for a rugby buzz in multifaceted and sprawling Tokyo
- Despite four huge matches on the card this weekend including the Japanese team, the Rugby World Cup has to share the stage in the world’s largest city.
But, again, there are 38 million people in Tokyo so there should be plenty of room for alternative passions. As the tournament, pared down to eight teams from 20, heads into the business end of things this weekend, it should not take much sleuth work to detect a palpable buzz. Pretty much everyone in the country is aware Japan will be playing on Sunday night against South Africa. But are they rugby fans or Japan fans?
Hopefully both, which is why our research leads us down to Shirokane in an unpretentious southern part of town. Sandwiched between Azabu and Ebisu, two narcissistic hoods that just love their own reflection, Shirokane strikes a perfect balance between gentrification and urban grit. It’s real here and no place is more real than Day and Night, an old school diner under an overpass that is a Hollywood cinematographers dream.
Shunsuke is the genial owner and head chef. He is grilling up a Philly Cheese Steak while The Spinners’ classic It’s A Shame melodically fills the air. Day and Night seems like the target demographic for a growing sport like rugby, it’s young, hip, cool and welcoming. So what about it Shun-san, has there been a buzz over the World Cup in Shirokane? “Hmmm, not here,” he says. “Maybe in Ebisu a bit.”
Well surely, I ask, you will be glued to the tube for the epic matches on Saturday when England play Australia followed by the All Blacks and Irish? “No, working,” he says.
I poll a cross section of diners, there are only three others, and they all basically say the same. As far as Shun-san knows, there are no viewing parties planned in Shirokane even for Japan and South Africa on Sunday night. One girl tells me, however, that she might watch the Japan series baseball championship between the Yomiuri Giants and Softbank Hawks this weekend.
