Japan’s Success at World Cup Buoys Hopes for Rugby at Home

The World Cup has been great success for Japanese rugby fans. Sports leagues have tried to drum up interest in Japan, but to no avail. There are 10 times more registered soccer players in the country than rugby players. Rugby has a few professional teams in Japanese, and it's played by about 100,000 players today. It's not as popular as it used to be, however. It has declined in popularity due to declining birthrates, rise of soccer and basketball, a lack of fields for rugby, some parents worry about letting their children play collision sports. The World cup is a chance for the Japanese to try to increase the number of players and encourage more children to start playing rugby.

Japan won the World Cup. Joe Ritchie contributed reporting from Hong Kong.