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Howzat Cricket – At a council meeting in Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture, on December 6, the executive committee discussed something often associated with Commonwealth countries – promoting the “good game” of cricket. An interesting situation, it may sound, but it is at the heart of the strategy of the desire to make Sano the center of cricket in Japan. Days later, the city unveiled a group of cricket supporters with the slogan “Sano, home of cricket”.

But which cricket? Why Sano? For a population of 124,000 the answer is simple. “Many villages are known for something: Aomori has apples; Utsunomiya has gyoza,” said resident Toshio Yoshida, 59. “But nobody knows where Sano is. If cricket helps it puts it on the map and attracts business, it’s everything for him.

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Post-war plans to provide local residents with much-needed Philip provided towns and cities throughout Japan with products to sell to the newly wealthy Japanese of the pubble era. However, while anything from watermelons and beef to manga characters and even Jesus Christ has become a placeholder for marketing, sports are no longer expected as a way to push an identity. home to Wembley, Aintree and St Andrews.

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Sano wants this trend and become the official headquarters of the Japanese game just a second in terms of football’s global popularity. With this, the authorities hope to create the “Sano brand” and attract visitors and investors from far and wide.

“We wanted something to help Sano, and we think this can be achieved with such a big game that has a worldwide fan base,” Sano mayor Masahide Okabe told BCCJ ACUmen.

“The aim is to spread cricket at grassroots level and develop infrastructure. In this way, we can attract international competitions and strengthen cultural and business relations.

Sano already hosts international matches, the East Asia / Pacific Women’s Cricket Trophy was held there in 2010. The direct economic impact, including hotel fees, is estimated at ¥30 million, according to Naoki Miyaji, the chief executive of the Japan Cricket Association. (JCA) Sano Department.

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“This made local entrepreneurs realize the potential,” said Miyaji, who is also a member of the national men’s team. “A group of sponsors is a big step towards making a business self-financing.”

The desire to ensure financial independence is a reflection not only of the regional financial situation, but also of a long-term plan to sell the business model elsewhere in Japan and make the sport part of the cultural fabric, not just a Happy thing. in Japan. Expats.

Many in Sano believe that it is not that long. In 2011, JCA took cricket to 3,000 primary and junior high school students in Sano alone, and this year will increase that to 5,000.

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And the Cricket for Smiles programme, launched by the JCA in June, aims to bring cricket to 25,000 children affected by the March 11 disasters by the end of 2012.

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“Traditionally, cricket is known as a simple man’s game and I think the general etiquette is like the true Japanese spirit,” said local engineer and cricket fan Takatoshi. Tamekuni, who is Sano’s design expert.

“Somewhere we’ve lost that spirit, but I think the true Japanese behavior is much closer to the values ​​found in cricket than in our most popular sport, baseball.”

Kanai Shimada, the president of the local business department, agrees: “There are many young people who are looking for other ways to be used instead of baseball and soccer,” he said. so Shimada, who, when he was young, quit baseball because of a tear. “I believe that the main reason cricket has not spread to the sport is the lack of resources.”

Indeed, cricket’s influence in Japan is limited, although surprisingly its introduction here preceded baseball by several years. British merchants in Yokohama founded Japan’s first cricket club in 1868, after which the Yokohama Cricket Club (YCC) gradually expanded its scope to include football, tennis, rugby and lawn bowls. Today it is known as the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club, and is located on a bluff.

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In 1870, the second cricket club was established in Kobe and the Kobe Cricket Club (later renamed Kobe Regatta & Athletics Club) and the YCC often held port games, exchanges and using a wicket made of matting on grass.

But Japan had to wait until the 1980s for the sport to gain momentum. While the number of foreign-led teams has increased since World War II, Kobe University of International Studies was the first team to take the game seriously and was the first to travel abroad: went to New Caledonia in 1985.

Since then, the sport has spread, with the number of men’s and women’s teams now over 200 and including about 20 from universities, according to JCA’s Miyaji.

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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 Men’s XI won the East Asia/Pacific Cricket Championship.

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Originally run by foreigners, the JCA is now run entirely by Japanese, with New Zealander Chris Ferguson – the association’s first full-time, effective director – the only foreigner.

At the national representative level, the improvement since 2005 has been steady, helped by an increasing number of players gaining experience in overseas leagues, according to Miyaji.

Globally, the men’s team ranks 42nd, which is not as easy as it sounds, says Miyaji. “It is the only country after Norway, whose team is made up entirely of expats from the Asian subcontinent. Another thing we have focused on in recent years is the development of talent of the area,” he added.

Like most sports in Japan these days, it’s the women’s team that seems to be progressing well. In last November’s Women’s World Cup qualifier, the team recorded its first win against top-ranked Zimbabwe, having a year earlier claimed bronze at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. , China.

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Predictably, perhaps, a great PR campaign followed, with the famous singer Chihiro of Loversoul releasing the world by my platform and appearing on the poster, with members of the national team, to throw the ball of cricket.

The focus of this campaign was Yasuhiko Ota, a farmer in Sano – although he had 30 years of experience in the entertainment business.

“What impressed me about the campaign was how Chihiro got involved in the game when she went to watch the game [to get the inspiration for the song],” said Ota, who has been returning to the city for four years. “It made me think that this has to be something that can capture the attention of young people like football did for my generation.”

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Ota is one of many in the community who, until a few years ago, had never even heard of cricket, but now see it differently.

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As we drive through this idyllic town, he talks about the economic benefits—an estimated $700 million—that September’s national football training camp has provided for the City of Mimasaka in Okayama Prefecture.

“Moreover, they were only world champions, but the training camp only lasted one week,” he said. “With careful planning, cricket can benefit Sano in the same way.”

Ota has put his money where his mouth is, counting himself among the 70 individuals and corporations that have invested in Sano’s supporters group, which has already attracted ¥3.3 million in membership fees.

“It’s a good investment,” said local hotel manager Ryoichi Inoue after handing over his ¥60,000 membership fee. “Room rates are down and we need to find another way to get visitors to stay a night or two. If we act aggressively, I think the city can fill up with more than just hotel beds.

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Miyaji believes that, as the first step to ensure that international teams come to Sano, national teams must be strong competitors on the world stage.

“Many members of the current men’s team started playing cricket at university, but the next generation of players started very young and includes serious stars. The challenge, as always, is to get the necessary support to ensure that they can continue to improve their game. .

The International Cricket Council’s annual funding is almost entirely invested in the development of the game, meaning that whatever is received from the sponsor group will be invested in developing facilities and business relations.

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The city has donated riverside land and a disused high school, which is expected to be developed into a state-of-the-art facility and one day a world-class stadium. for attracting many international competitions, says Mayor Okabe.

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“Sano has already received a match between Japan and Pakistan, scheduled for April to celebrate 60 years of trade relations between the two countries,” he said, adding that he hoped the city would soon host England XI. “That would pit the real home of cricket against the home of cricket in Japan. Big game”.

It’s hard to bring a smile to the faces of children who lost so much in the March 11 disasters – even harder, you might think, to do it with something they don’t understand or understand.

But the Japan Cricket Association (JCA) delivers bats and balls to shelters, schools and temporary shelters.