Howzat Cricket – At a council meeting in the small town of Tochigi Prefecture on December 6, the executive committee discussed promoting the “good game” of cricket – often associated with Commonwealth countries. A curious entry, it may seem, but it is the centerpiece of a larger plan to turn Sano into a cricketing center in Japan. A few days later, the city opened a football supporters’ club with the words “small, home of cricket”.
But why football? why small For 124 000 000 people the answer is simple. “Most towns are known for something: Omori has apples; Utsunomiya is clean,” said resident Toshio Yoshida, 59. “But nobody knows where Sano is. If cricket helps put it on the map and attract business, I’m all for it,” he said.
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Postwar facilitation projects gave towns and cities across Japan a product to sell to newly wealthy Japanese. However, with everything from fruit and cows to manga characters and Jesus Christ becoming regional selling points, sport has largely been overlooked as a way to push local identity à la Wembley, Aintree and St Andrew’s.
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Sano wants to buck that trend and become Japan’s second most popular sport after soccer. In doing so, officials hope to create a “small brand” and attract visitors and investors from far and wide.
“We wanted something to help promote Sano, and we thought this could be achieved through a strong and popular game around the world,” Masahide Okabe, mayor of Sano, told BCCJ ACUMEN.
He said, “The aim is to bring football to the local level and develop the infrastructure.” In this way we can attract international competition and develop cultural and commercial ties.”
Sano has already hosted one international tournament, the East Asia/Pacific Women’s Cricket Cup was held there in 2010. According to Japan Cricket Association CEO Naoki Miyaji, the direct economic impact, including hotel revenue, was estimated at £30 million. (JCA) Small Dept.
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“This has made local businessmen aware of the potential,” said Miyaji, who is also a member of the men’s national team. “The Donor Club is a big step in making the project financially viable.”
The desire to achieve financial independence reflects not only the region’s economic situation, but also a long-term plan to sell businesses elsewhere in Japan and turn the game into a cultural event, not just something immigrants enjoy.
Many in Sano believe it’s not a long shot. In 2011, JCA brought soccer to just under 3,000,000 primary and secondary school students in Sano and this year will increase to 5,000.
The Cricket for Smiles program launched by JCA in June aims to reach 25,00,000 children affected by the March 11 disaster by the end of 2012.
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“Traditionally, football is known as a gentleman’s game and I think the general attitude towards the game is in line with the Japanese spirit,” said civil engineer and cricket enthusiast Takatoshi Tamekuni, who is planning the small project.
“To some extent we’ve lost that feeling, but I think the behavior of real Japanese is much closer to the values found in cricket than in our most popular sport, baseball.”
Kanai Shimada, president of the local chamber of commerce, said, “There are many young people who are looking for alternatives to baseball and soccer”, and Shimada rejected baseball in favor of running as a youth. “I think the main reason why cricket has not spread is because of the lack of equipment in the game.”
Indeed, cricket’s influence in Japan has waned, although ironically baseball was introduced here many years ago. British businessmen from Yokohama established the first cricket club in Japan in 1868, after which the Yokohama Cricket Club (YCC) gradually expanded to include football, tennis, rugby and bowls. Today it is known as the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, and is located on the bluff.
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In 1870, Kobe’s second cricket club, the Kobe Cricket Club (later the Kobe Regatta and Athletics Club), was founded and the YCC often played matches using wickets made from a combination of wickets, alternate pitches and grass.
But Japan had to wait until the 1980s for the game to catch on. While the number of teams led by immigrants increased after World War II, Kobe University was the first team to take the international study game seriously and tour abroad: it traveled to New Caledonia in 1985.
Since then, the sport has expanded, with men’s and women’s teams now numbering 200, including about 200 collegiate teams, according to the JCA’s Miyaji.
Meanwhile, JCA has also developed. It gained membership of the International Cricket Council in 1989, and was promoted to full membership in 2005, the same year Japan XI won the Asia Pacific Cricket Tournament.
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Traditionally led by foreigners, the JCA is now led entirely by Japanese, with New Zealander Chris Ferguson – the association’s first full-time, active director – the only foreigner.
At the national representative level, the trend has been reversed since 2005, helped by the number of players gaining experience in foreign leagues, according to Miyaji.
Miyaji says that globally, the men’s team ranks 42nd, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. “It is only one place behind Norway, whose team is made up entirely of expatriates from the Asian continent. In recent years, our focus has been on developing local talent,” he said.
Like most sports in Japan these days, this women’s team seems to be thriving. In last November’s Women’s World Cup qualifiers, the team registered its first victory against top-ranked Zimbabwe, while a year ago it won bronze at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
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In what is expected to be, perhaps, the biggest PR campaign since, famous singer Chihiro of Loversul released The World is My Stage and the poster is seen throwing a cricket ball alongside members of the national team.
The idea behind the campaign is small-scale farmer Yasuhiko Ota – although he has 30 years of experience in the entertainment business.
“What surprised me about this campaign was how fascinated Chihiro was with the game [to get the energy of the song] when she went to the game,” said Ota, who gave up her city life four years ago. “It made me think that this is something that captured the imagination of young people with football for my generation.”
Ota is one of many people in the community who had never heard of cricket until a few years ago, but now he sees it differently.
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As we drive through this otherwise uninspiring city, he talks about the economic benefits — an estimated 700 million pounds — that the training of a women’s soccer team in September will bring to the city of Mimasaka in Okayama Prefecture.
“Of course, they were already world champions, but that exercise only lasted a week,” he said. “With proper preparation, soccer can have the same benefits for little ones.”
Ota has put his money where his mouth is, being among 70 individuals and 70 companies who have invested in Sano’s backer club, which has already attracted £3.3 million from members.
“It’s a worthwhile investment,” said local hotel manager Ryoichi Inoue. “Room rents have come down and we have to find a way to accommodate guests for a night or two. If we do well, I think the city can just fill the hotel beds,” he said.
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Miyaji believes that the national teams must be strong competitors in the world as a first step to ensure that international teams come in small.
“Many of the current men’s team started playing soccer in college, but the next generation of players started much smaller and included some big stars. The challenge, as usual, is finding the support they need to continue to improve their game.”
Almost all of the International Cricket Council’s annual income is invested in the fundamental development of the game, meaning anything from sponsoring teams to facilities and business development.
Mayor Okabe says the city has donated riverside land and an unused high school in hopes of developing it into a sports center and one day a world-class stadium to attract more international tournaments.
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“Sano has already secured a match between Japan and Pakistan, which is scheduled for April to mark the 60th anniversary of trade relations between the two countries,” he said, adding that he hoped the city would host an England XI soon. “It will make the real home of hockey and the home of Japan. It’s a perfect game,” he said.
It’s hard to put a smile on the faces of children who lost so much in the March 11 disaster—it’s even harder, you’d think, to do it through something they have little or no understanding of.
But the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) takes balls and balls to shelters, schools and shelters.
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