Tokyo — Kamaishi, one of the host cities for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and still recovering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, held the inaugural match at its new Unosumai Memorial Stadium on Sunday. More than 6,000 fans packed into the stadium, which will host two matches during the 2019 tournament and has been built on land that was previously the site of the local school that was wiped out by the tsunami seven years ago. The children’s decision to race for higher ground meant every pupil at school that day survived and many of them were in the ground on Sunday. Kamaishi lost 1,145 of its citizens in the wake of the tsunami and was chosen to be a World Cup city as a symbol of Japan’s desire to use the tournament, as well as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, to promote reconstruction in the area. However, Kamaishi is also historically a rugby town. There has been a professional rugby team there since 1959 and Nippon Steel Kamaishi, who would eventually become the Seawaves, ...
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