World Rugby's decision to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan may turn out to be an inspired decision.
The Cherry Blossoms defeated Samoa at the weekend and have an outside chance of qualifying for the quarter finals ahead of their final pool game. They face the United States on Sunday in Gloucester.
The CEO of World Rugby, Brett Gosper took to Twitter earlier today to announce the television viewership figures for the Japan game and they are very impressive.
25 million Japan TV viewers for Samoa v Japan. A world record for domestic rugby anywhere, smashing TF1 France record of 2007.#RWC2015
— Brett Gosper (@brettgosper) October 5, 2015
The 25 million viewers has peaked in what has been a historic tournament for Eddie Jones' side culminating in the South African win. That victory saw another impressive viewership for their following game against Scotland.
Early estimate of Japan TV viewers for Japan v Scotland is 20 million..largest ever for a rugby match in Japan. This is not a typo.
— Brett Gosper (@brettgosper) September 24, 2015
While it is difficult to compare the viewing figures with other sports in Japan, they do look positive. The Women's World Cup Final earlier this year drew a viewership of 11.6million on Japanese television as their World Champions lost to the United States in the final. The Japanese Grand Prix rarely gets over 10million viewers nowadays too, compared to when it regularly broke the 20million mark in the 1990s.
That women's team is going through somewhat of a golden age at the moment, having made huge strides in recent years. Much like rugby, the game has been played in the country for a long time, but has gone through its ups and downs. A decisive moment for the game there came with qualification for the 2004 Olympics, including a big match against Korea DPR which was widely watched on TV, and helped to boost the profile of the game across the country.
Less than ten years later, they claimed the World Cup trophy by beating the United States in the final, an established power in the game. The success and amazing moments that the team have provided against South Africa and Samoa so far in this tournament could mark the start of a new chapter in the history of the game there.
These viewership figures suggest that it's no longer a cult sport, and the game in Japan seems to be thriving. In a further piece of good news, today it was announced that the Sunwolves will represent Japan in Super Rugby when the tournament is expanded to 18 teams.
Ahead of the World Cup's arrival in Japan in 2019, the team's success this time out may have awoken a sleeping giant.
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