Kamaishi draws strength from traditional ties to rugby
"Kamaishi has the rugby power." About 50 days before the opening day of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, banners can be seen everywhere on the main street in Kamaishi, one of 12 host cities for the event. Traditionally, Kamaishi has been known as a "rugby town" ...
Stadium built on grounds of tsunami-hit Iwate Prefecture schools hosts Japan-Fiji rugby match
Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium in disaster-hit Iwate Prefecture held its first international rugby match Saturday, delighting an emotional crowd made up of residents of the area and fans from all over. The stadium is unlike any other, having been built on the grounds of two ...
Special edition train unveiled in Iwate Prefecture in run-up to Rugby World Cup
A special edition train designed for the upcoming Rugby World Cup was unveiled to reporters at Kamaishi Station in on Tuesday in the build-up to the tournament kicking off across Japan in September. The train, operated by Sanriku Railway Co. and dubbed the "Scrum Iwate ...
Organizing committee chief Akira Shimazu hopes World Cup will be catalyst for growth
With half a year to go until the first-ever Rugby World Cup in Asia, organizing committee chief Akira Shimazu insisted that the hosts are focused on making the tournament in Japan a "ground-breaking" event. "The previous tournament in England in 2015, as you know, was ...
New stadium gives recovering Kamaishi hope for future
Takeshi Nagata looks out over the pitch from the back stand of Kamaishi Unosumai Memorial Stadium and tugs at the collar of his shirt. He retired from playing rugby six years ago, but his body is still in good shape and his formal clothes ...
Events set to commemorate opening of new stadium in Iwate Prefecture
The construction of a new stadium in Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, which will host two games in the 2019 Rugby World Cup will be completed in August and celebration events are planned to open the stadium on Aug. 19, organizers announced on Tuesday at a ...
Airbnb Inc., a popular U.S. online marketplace and home-stay network, and Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, have agreed to join hands on promoting tourism in the city, the company's first deal with a Japanese municipality. The city in Japan's tsunami-ravaged northeast is scheduled to host matches for ...
Despite hurdles, businesses bring jobs, opportunities back to Tohoku
When the March 2011 tsunami smashed the seafood processing factory where Shoichi Sato was working, he lost his job but eventually found a new life. Three years later, Sato is among the businessmen helping to bring back the fishing industry, long a mainstay livelihood ...
Sacred dance helps preserve community spirit in Tohoku
When Masayuki Sasayama's house was swept away by the tsunami three years ago, he was temporarily separated from his family and forced to stay in an evacuation shelter, but the tragedy did not stop him from helping preserve his hometown's "kagura," a traditional performance ...
