I had a very complicated feeling before the game today. Because one of the two needs to lose but whether it will be Japan or Wales, I knew that will make me sad.
A Welsh local newspaper wrote in 1973 when Japan played Wales for the first time in Cardiff (14-62 for Wales) "It will probably take another 50 years before Japan can play Wales competitively". Today's result tells us that he was absolutely right.
When I was approaching to the stadium, a staff of Kitakyushu city was handing the flier with "Land of My Fathers (in Japanese)" to the crowds so that we would all sing the Welsh National Anthem together to welcome them to Japan. This happened in RWC 2019. What a thought!
Last Saturday I was in Kitakyushu to support both Japan and Wales, but when one team wins, another team has to lose😢. The whole city was just like RWC 2019. This is the 50th year since I saw the Welsh for the first time back in 1975 in Osaka, which had changed all my life!