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By Chris McLaughlin
BBC Scotland sports news correspondent
For one little town, 500 km north of bustling Tokyo, this Rugby World Cup’s existence means over a celebration of sport.
Kamaishi lies in the state of Iwate and used to be best known for its steel industry, fishing and also the 35,000 residents’ fascination with rugby union, since it had been home to the team which dominated Western infantry in the 1970s and 80s.
That was until March 11, 2011, nevertheless. That triggered a catastrophic tsunami and was the day the country hit.
News footage at that time reveals automobiles bobbing throughout the streets and homes floating around like matchsticks from the rain, as well as the sight of folks on a hillside desperately crying to their fellow townsfolk to run as the sea invaded the streets, crushing everything in its path.
A total of 1,300 people died and the town was devastated. Survivors took what they could salvage and left, never to return. But people who remained were determined to rebuild.
Among the many buildings to be washed away was the neighborhood college. It lay at the heart of town, both physically and emotionally.
Because of a tsunami evacuation process that was well-established, most of the students made it to safety, but nothing remained of the building.
In a plan which would provide a sense of function to the city and restore some pride was invented by locals – and – rugby was in the heart of it.
Eight decades laterthe Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium stands to the place where the college was washed off, having been constructed with the help of government investment made to aid in the field’s recovery.
With a capacity of 16,000, it is going to be the smallest of these World Cup venues, but many think it will be the most important.
«We needed to construct something that would wholeheartedly hope for the future,» said arena director Takeshi Nagata.
«It isn’t just rebuilding something – it is about rebuilding hearts»
That view is evidenced once the wave struck, by Akiko Iwasaki, who lost her life. She possesses a little inn that sits defiantly at the border of the sea. When recounting her near fatal experience she smiles widely.
«There was a feeling that’today is your day’,» she recalls. «We’d been anticipating it because we’d been told that a big earthquake would one day come our way.
«As I attempted to run for the mountains, I had been caught under the water.
«I looked at the sky and remember that it seemed so pretty before I lost consciousness.»
A number of her customers who’d made it to security was trapped below a van but pulled clear iwasaki. She needs Kamaishi to be remembered for rugby as opposed to a time of tragedy.
«I really don’t think this town and the people might have made it through the last eight years if we didn’t have the World Cup to concentrate on,» she explained.
Not everyone is in agreement that is complete . As government investment is ploughed into streets around the stadium and World Cup infrastructure, some locals point towards these forced to reside in temporary housing.
The new arena will sponsor Namibia v Canada and Fiji v Uruguay, but won’t fail to observe that the sporting event will take place where disaster struck.
The tsunami memorial situated just outside Akiko’s inn serves as warning.
The words etched to the black granite stone read, only:»Only run! Run uphill! Don’t be worried about the others. Save yourself. And tell the future generations that a tsunami attained this stage were the individuals who ran. So run! Run uphill!»
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