C H E AT S H E E T / WO R L D C U P 20 1 9 JA PA N
A splash of sake with your sport. Rugby fever is hitting Japan next year. Here are your 12 match venues, complete with what to do in-between the action.
Sapporo Dome Sapporo City
Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium Kamaishi City
Tokyo Stadium Tokyo City
Hanazono Rugby Stadium Higashiōsaka City
International Stadium Yokohama Yokohama City
Kumagaya Rugby Stadium Kumagaya City
Japan’s fifth-largest city is home to the Sapporo Beer Museum and Brewery: Japan’s oldest homebrew. Pop next door to Lilac Restaurant too, for all-you-can-eat lamb. You have 60-minutes to chow down.
This tsunami-hit fishing town lost over 1000 lives in 2011, but its Sanriku Fukko National Park remains a true beauty. With dramatic cliffs and wild beaches, retreat here for some peace and quiet.
Essentials include the neonbathed streets of Shinjuku, tiny drinking dens in Golden Gai and guided night canoeing on the Kyu-Naka River. Tokyo’s enchanting old-school alleyways (or yokocho) are found all over.
Dotonbori is the best district for street food, shopping, and bars. This city is also one of the few places where bunraku (traditional Japanese puppetry shows) can still be found.
Just a 20-minute train ride from central Tokyo, if you don’t fancy Yokohama’s museum dedicated to instant cup noodles, explore Landmark Tower (Japan’s second tallest building) and the Motomachi shopping street.
Menuma Shodenzan Kangiin Temple is a national treasure and an impressive structure bursting with colour. Try the no-frills snacks sold outside, such as Shoden Inari Sushi. Packed with rice, vegetables and tofu.
Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa Fukuroi City
City of Toyota Stadium Toyota City
Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium Fukuoka City
Kobe Misaki Stadium Kobe City
Kumamoto Stadium Kumamoto City
Oita Stadium Ōita City
Temples, temples, everywhere. But green tea also sprouts up in abundance here, so if you need refreshment (or a break from the Asahi) find a tea house and order a pot.
It makes sense to visit the Toyota Automobile Museum when you’re in the namesake city. Motor heads will marvel at the awesome collection of vintage cars. They’re not solely Toyota either.
Yatai is a dining experience unique to Fukuoka. Once all over Japan, these tiny street food carts, crammed with a maximum of seven diners are constructed (and deconstructed) nightly.
Kobe is a blessed city. Not solely for its prized Kobe Beef, but also its Nada district which is Japan’s most famous sake producing region.
Home to Kumamoto Castle — but to you and I it looks like a grand Japanese temple — this fortified safehold was quake damaged. However, repairs are underway and the grounds are well worth exploring.
Skip Ōita and escape to the nearby spa city of Beppu. Known for its onsen bathing and natural hot springs pluming mist across the city. Luxuriate in the pick n’ mix of bath styles: sand, mud and steam.
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