Japanese schoolchildren sing brilliant Welsh anthem to Wales players
Ahead of the first Test at Mikuni World Stadium on Saturday, Wales captain Dewi Lake, along with Tommy Reffell and Rhodri Williams, visited Shinozaki Junior High School on Wednesday as part of a series of events to mark the visit of the Welsh national team. The city in Japan's Fukuoka Prefecture was the training base of Wales during the 2019 World Cup, with the locals essentially adopting the side as their favourite team.
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Remarkably, that bond still remains six years on, with Wales receiving a rousing welcome when they arrived here last week.
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However, no sight better represented the affection held for Welsh rugby in this city than the anthem by the schoolchildren on Wednesday morning.
As part of a visit to the school by the Welsh Rugby Union, the group of children sang a stirring rendition of the anthem for the Wales stars, with former internationals Rhys Williams and Siwan Lillicrap also present.
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"It was incredible to hear more than 100 children singing our national anthem in Welsh after they had been practising every day for a long time," said Williams, who is now the WRU's head of commercial.
"It feels like a bit of Wales is here. We created a huge legacy programme back in 2019.
"This is the first time we have had the chance to come back to Japan and especially Kitakyushu. The relationship we have with the city is unbelievable."
As part of the visit, Lake, Reffell and Williams took part in passing drills, while each pupil received a Wales hat as a gift. The school was also presented with a signed Wales shirt.
The school returned the favour with a gift of their own to the WRU, with a decorative item featuring the kanji for 'kokoro' - the Japanese word for 'heart', as well as the Welsh word for it too, 'calon'.
"We were speaking to people last night and they think the majority of the crowd will be backing Wales," added Williams. "We hope that is the case." Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack for the exclusive five-week tour diary from Japan and Australia.
There is an expectation that local support could be in Wales' favour, with assistant coach T. Rhys Thomas being asked about that likelihood by a local journalist.
"We are hoping there are going to be a big percentage of the crowd supporting us," he said. "We feel the support and really appreciate it and it is a big thank you from all the players and staff.
"It will be interesting to see who people are supporting but hopefully we can inspire people to give us a good atmosphere."
Wales No. 8 Aaron Wainwright was one of a handful of the current squad who were in Kitakyushu back in 2019.
"It is nice to be back," he said. "We have seen a lot of Welsh and Japanese fans on the streets over the last few days and had a chance to speak to them.
"I met some people I met in 2019 so it's nice to catch up with them.
"It's good to come back and take more in than maybe I did in 2019. When I came here six years ago I was not sure what to expect but those open training sessions we had at a packed stadium with the guys chanting and singing the anthem was surreal and I am hoping for the same on the weekend.
"We had a big welcome when we arrived and a few of the boys were quite taken aback because it was probably something we had not experienced before and I was trying to explain what it was like in 2019 and how big that World Cup was.
"We went for a team walk and we had some of the guys coming up to a few of the boys and asking for photos and autographs with some of the boys taken aback by how much support we have here and a lot of that comes from the World Cup."
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