Rugby World Cup: Northland's Arriane Christie dissects her Japan experience

The Northern Advocate's Arriane Christie (right), along with her partner William, are finally back on NZ shores after a whirlwind time in Japan for the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Supplied

The Northern Advocate's very own Rugby World Cup correspondent Arriane Christie has finally returned to home shores. Despite the disappointing result of the semifinal, Christie gives her account of her time in Japan watching the world's best play the game we love.

Our trip to watch the Rugby World Cup in Japan was a month long. Leaving after the first pool game against South Africa, we were in high spirits with a good win first up.

We had tickets to watch the All Blacks play Canada in Oita, Namibia in Tokyo and Italy in the City of Toyota, as well as the England vs Argentina match in Tokyo. We planned to stay for the quarterfinals in Tokyo in the hope we would get tickets, which paid off because that was the best match of them all.

William and Arriane weren't hard to spot in the crowd at any of the All Blacks' games. Photo / Supplied

Being in Japan for so long was a treat because we fit in so much sightseeing in 11 different cities between the rugby games. Almost all of it was amazing, with the only bad day being the day of the cancelled All Blacks match against Italy.

We were disappointed not to be able to watch the All Blacks play Italy, especially because a former Taniwha player was the Italian captain, but the tournament officials made the right decision in the end.

Japan is an incredible place, the people are so full of respect for everyone and everything else. It is obvious they take great pride in their own appearance, as well as their vehicles, houses, streets and even pets. This shows in their stadiums too. Not only is everything clean and tidy but getting in and out of the venues is a breeze.

Despite the hordes of people who flooded Japan for the Rugby World Cup, Christie said it was easy to find your way to and from the stadiums. Photo / Supplied

Getting through security and to your seat is easy and then you can even have the beer delivered to your seat. Unlike New Zealand, you can order as many drinks as you want at a time, and they keep the drink service open until long after the final whistle.

In Tokyo getting to and from the stadium was easy too. The public transport is so efficient and regular, once you get your head around how it works, it is simple. The trains to the games were packed on game days, but everyone was in good spirits, so it wasn't an issue.

In Japan, you don't even need to leave your seat to get a refill. Photo / Supplied

The stadium in Oita was a bit different. To get there you had to take a bus or taxi so the traffic jams were huge, especially on the way home, but the organisation of transport was still impressive. There was bus after bus taking people waiting in a well-formed queue back to the city.

The cities in Japan are compact in the fact that people live in small but high-density houses and apartments built very close to each other. On the streets and in the trains, there are always crowds, the personal space is limited.

At first it was quite daunting, but you get used to it pretty quickly. It means that despite having a huge population, there are still plenty of open areas in the country sides, away from the big cities.

The Northland pair did their fair share of sightseeing in between the rugby, Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine gates seen here. Photo / Supplied

In the cities, there are often main arterial roads with multiple lanes and wide footpaths, and the minor roads in between are all narrow, one-lane roads with no footpaths, but it works.

Vehicles and people share the narrow streets easily, respectfully and politely. A lot of people ride bikes, all with no helmets. They ride on either the road or the footpath, and this works well too.

It also means that the traffic is never very heavy, even at peak times. It helps that the trains are very efficient and cover all corners of the big cities, and if they don't, a bus will.

Rugby swept up Japan, but mainly just in the cities it was being played. Our first three days in Japan were not spent in host cities and at times you could forget there was even a World Cup on.

The Kiyomizu-dera Temple overlooking the city of Kyoto was just one of the amazing sights Christie was able to see while in Japan. Photo / Supplied

In the host cities however, they went big. There were multiple fan zones, some put on by the cities themselves, to showcase local food and drink and even their local rugby players. At others, there were school kids practising their English by asking simple questions to foreign fans.

I spoke to an old university friend from Japan who now lives in Tokyo and she was impressed with how many of her fellow countrymen started following the rugby, even though they didn't really understand the game.

Having the Brave Blossoms do so well probably helped, I think the whole world got behind them in the end.

Japan were eventually kicked out of the tournament by South Africa in the quarterfinals, captain Michael Leitch seen here showing appreciation to the home fans. Photo / File

The highlight of the trip had to be the quarterfinal against Ireland, it was a trip to watch the rugby after all. Getting the tickets was an incredible story, so I already felt privileged to be there then with the All Blacks playing a near-perfect game, it made it even better.

It is a pity they couldn't repeat that performance in the semifinal. We were back home to watch that match and while we still support the men in black to the end, we were rather grateful not to be at that game in the end.

I am however, very impressed with the way most All Blacks supporters have been so humble in defeat this time around.

Dejected All Blacks, from left, Sevu Reece, George Bridge, Anton Lienert-Brown and Beauden Barrett acknowledge their supporters after their loss to England in the World Cup semifinal. Photo / File

The All Blacks were comprehensively outplayed in their semifinal, but I think they will bring it for the bronze medal match. They say it is the game no one wants to play, but I can't imagine the All Blacks ever feeling like that about a test match.

With so many players leaving as well as the coach, what comes next will be a new era for the All Blacks, so I hope the nerves disappear, they have some fun and play with flair to finish the tournament on a high.