Rugby: Fans pumped and ready for World Cup to start in Tokyo english.kyodonews.net

By Junko Horiuchi, KYODO NEWS - 3 hours ago - 23:30 | Sports, Rugby2019, All, TokyoForeign and domestic fans clad in the colors of the 20 teams playing in the Rugby World Cup flooded into the stadium that hosted the tournament's opening match between Japan and Russia in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan is a very good team, we hope they will win by scoring many tries," said 65-year-old Wales native Isobel Smith at Tokyo Stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium).
World Cup organizers have predicted more than 400,000 overseas visitors will come for the tournament, bringing in a 437.2 billion yen ($4 billion) economic windfall from match tickets and the sale of goods and services.
"This might be the first time that I watched a rugby match so closely," said Toru Inage, 37, after watching the game with his coworker.
Japan have never reached a quarterfinal in eight World Cup campaigns and doing so would be a historic achievement for the hosts.