Tokyo (AFP)

Enthusiasm is growing in Japan, where the Brave Blossoms are dragging the media and the public in their wake, before the World Cup quarter-final against South Africa on Sunday in Tokyo.

Certainly, baseball, the national passion, still occupies the sporting one of the main newspapers of the country. But rugby is cutting a new portion.

On Friday morning, forty-eight hours away, several TV broadcasts excerpted the victory over Scotland (28-21) last Sunday, and released images of the "Miracle of Brighton", the victory over Africa. South (34-32) at the World Cup-2015 in England.

On the channels, the tube of this early autumn is "Victory road", led by the players of Japan gathered in a large circle at the end of the training, accompanied by a "hit" with hands.

The private channel NTV has given a large place to the appointment of Sunday, during his very followed show in the morning. And as rugby experts pointed out that the Springboks would line up their best team on Sunday, star host Koji Kato exclaimed, "Very good!" Before launching: "We would be very annoyed if they did not align their best team", triggering the laughter of the public.

- The machine of "Sakura" -

For specialists, it's time for questions. And the media emphasize the importance of having a strong fray to oppose the Springboks, particularly well armed in this area.

The Yomiuri, one of the most widely read daily newspapers in Japan (8 million copies) stops on the Japanese pack in an article titled "The Scream of Sakura" (cherry blossoms, or Cherry Blossoms, which is the "Another nickname Brave Blossoms, Ed), a machine of precision," telling his readers not necessarily the fact of all the subtleties of rugby, how the eight players adjust almost to the centimeter the positioning of their heads, arms, legs. ..

Rugby also finds its place in economic newspapers. Kensuke Iwabuchi, a former player and leader of the Japanese federation, quoted in an article in the daily Nikkei, says "Japan's chances of victory are based on discipline and patience": the first not to offer penalties to the opponent and the second to oppose the physical power of the Springboks.

And he says that the successes of the Brave Blossoms have been facilitated by the support of many supporters.

"Supporters' encouragement was very important against Scotland, it was not like we were 15 against 15, but 15 against 70,015," he said, pointing out that most of the matches were played at closed counters.

-In search of a ticket-

In fact, finding a ticket for Sunday's match is a desperate cause.

"Can someone sell me one or two tickets for the Japan-South Africa match please?" I heard there will be a sale on match day but I will not get there for nothing, except queuing the day before, "tweeted a supporter.

Seeing the heroes or at least seeing them ... Since the beginning of the week, a gathering has been formed every morning at the entrance to the stadium of the Prince Chichibu Memorial, in the Aoyama district, in the center of Tokyo. , where the Brave Blossoms refine their preparation behind closed doors. Uniformed students watch for their stealthy escape from the locker room before they rush into their bus.

Less than a hundred meters away, the Canterbury equipment store is always full. Supporters line up at the entrance of the store to buy the Brave Blossoms jersey whose prices range from 4,800 to 10,000 yen (40 to 82 euros) depending on size.

Nearly 200,000 replica jerseys with red and white stripes have already been sold since the start of the World Cup, said last week a representative of the Canterbury brand to AFP.

© 2019 AFP