No.90 Towards the Rugby World Cup

Due to the mayoral election, the mayor's column in the May 15th issue of Reiwa 1 was suspended, but this time, thanks to the trust of the citizens, I have been entrusted with a third term. I will continue this column, so I appreciate your support.
For the past eight years since my inauguration as mayor, 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 supporting disaster-stricken areas during large-scale disasters. I will continue to serve as the Chairperson of the Special Committee on Waste Management and the Vice Chairperson of the Special Committee on Disaster Prevention at the National Mayors' Association, and I will continue to promote Inagi City nationwide, focusing on environmental and disaster prevention aspects.
This year, the Rugby World Cup will finally be held in Japan. This will be the first time it is held in Asia, and Japan has qualified for the tournament for the ninth consecutive time since the first tournament in 1987.
It is wonderful that a global event is being held in our vicinity, and as Inagi City, which promotes "One Sport for Every Citizen," I have been thinking that this could be an opportunity to promote sports.
However, since there were no accommodation facilities or practice locations in the city, we were unable to attract pre-camp training for the participating countries. I have been pondering 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 in the city. It is situated in the hilly area of the Sakahama and Hirao districts, adjacent to Tokyo Metropolitan Wakaba Comprehensive High School and Inagi Second Junior High School. The site covers approximately 126,000 square meters, 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 working on the improvement of the surrounding area, participating in local volunteer activities, and considering the dispatch of students to Elementary and Junior High Schools in the future, continuing discussions.
This time, thanks to the proposal from 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, we set up a tent to introduce the World Cup.
Currently, 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, but to our surprise, over 100 children participated. This showed us the high interest in rugby leading up to the World Cup.
The children received guidance from the older members of the Nihon University rugby club, and at the end, they had a practice match of tag rugby, and in the afternoon, they watched the official match, cheering energetically for both teams. I was impressed by how quickly children can adapt to new environments.
In the future, the city will consider incorporating dishes from the countries participating in the World Cup into the School Lunch menu and further initiatives in collaboration with the Nihon University rugby club. Let's all enjoy the Rugby World Cup together!