ABSTRACT
The roles that sport and tourism play in identity building are complex and poorly understood. This chapter focuses on the sport, tourism and identity nexus as it relates to the mobilities that are inherent in rugby in Japan. We open with an overview of sport, tourism and identity drawing on the previous work of Higham and Hinch. The chapter then examines the contested identities of the Japanese national rugby team with its history of foreign player involvement and its current success, which coincides with the fact that one-third of its test squad is made up of athletes who were not born in Japan. We then explore the potential for sport tourism to shape national identity specifically in relation to Japan’s hosting of the 2019 Rugby World Cup (RWC). Drawing upon Morgan’s theorisation of event delivery and host-guest experiences, we discuss the ‘transcultural maul’; the contested identities of the Japanese national rugby team, and how interpretations of contested identities will be portrayed and conveyed in the hosting of the Japan 2019 RWC.
