Kamaishi (Japan) (AFP)

The emotion will be strong on Wednesday during the Fiji-Uruguay match in Kamaishi, a modest Japanese city that lost more than a thousand of its own during the giant tsunami of March 2011.

This agglomeration of 34,000 inhabitants located on the sea coast of the north-east of the country had to be almost completely rebuilt. Ruins also emerged a brand new stadium, whose capacity was increased to 16,000 seats for the World Cup.

Making this sportyard a priority has not been to everyone's taste, some people still living in temporary housing, eight years after the disaster. But many see it as a powerful symbol of renewal and hope.

"It is very important for us to write a new page of history (of the city, Ed), an inheritance that we will cherish," said to the AFP the mayor of Kamaishi, Takenori Noda.

A former steel stronghold, Kamaishi also has a glorious rubgy history: in the early 1980s, local Nippon Steel Kamaishi RFC had won seven national championships in a row, earning the nickname "Northern Iron Man". The "Kamaishi Seawaves" then took over, and the city united around its team after the trauma of March 11, 2011.

The mayor wants to rekindle this pride: "The young children of Kamaishi do not know why the city was famous for rugby," he says. "Hosting the World Cup here in Kamaishi will be a great opportunity and a great experience for them".

Takuma Kawasaki, a 12-year-old Kamaishi boy who plays an oval ball, is eager for the match to arrive: "We've had a lot of difficulties (in recent years, Ed) but now I'm so happy that we can welcome the Rugby World Cup, "he told AFP.

- "Run, run" -

In Kamaishi, memories of the disaster are omnipresent. Signs everywhere remind us of the level reached by the wave, and a poignant memorial calls not to forget: "Run, run to the heights ... and tell the future generations that a tsunami has soared up here."

The new stadium itself is called the "Kamaishi Unosumai Memorial Stadium". It was built on the rubble of two schools washed away by the tidal wave, but whose more than 400 students miraculously survived by running two kilometers to take refuge in the nearby hills.

From the stadium, two evacuation paths start winding in the heights, and a few hundred meters from the posts, protective dikes have been rebuilt facing the ocean.

The choice of Kamaishi to host two World Cup matches (Fiji-Uruguay on Wednesday and Canada-Namibia on 13 October) is part of a broader strategy of the Japanese government to revitalize tourism in the north-east of the country. The city of Fukushima will host baseball events during the Tokyo Olympics next summer.

"At the time of the disaster, we have received such support from other parts of Japan and from abroad, so we really want to show everyone that we are doing well and that we have been able to recover," said the spokesman. last year Takeshi Nagata, former scrum half of the Kamaishi Seawaves.

Foreign fans traveling to Kamaishi, located at 04:30 from Tokyo by train, will be well received. "We have excellent alcohol here," says Takeshi Nagata.

© 2019 AFP