After a successful first trip to Indonesia last year, several Rugby players from Ryutsu Keizai University Japan have once again come to Indonesia through the Japan International Cooperation Agency in February of this year, as volunteers to conduct Rugby training and education in several Indonesian provinces.
The ten volunteers are led by RKU lecturer and Rugby personality Mukoyama Masatoshi and includes a familiar face, Takanori Hattori, who spent a year in Indonesia conducting Rugby training and volunteering in 2018.
The volunteers will be highly involved in the ongoing Get Into Rugby program in several provinces that will include SMA Titian Teras, SMA 4, SMA 1 dan SMA 3 and SD Xaverius in Jambi as well as SMPN 1, SMPN 2, SMK 1 and SMAN 8 in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. Rugby workshops will be conducted in Papua province and will include a visit to the provincial sports council there.
With their national Rugby XVs team playing at the elite international level, Japan will become the first Asian country to host the Rugby World Cup in September all the way to November of this year. In 2020, Tokyo will also be hosting the Summer Olympics where Rugby 7s will be a sport competing for Gold.
In between all the various Rugby activities, the RKU volunteers have also been able to enjoy the different customs and warm hospitality of the different areas in Indonesia, including its diverse culinary dishes. Apparently, several volunteers are now totally in love with the Indonesian soup known as “soto”! In the spirit that can only be found in Rugby, we must give the RKU Rugby community and JICA a pat on the back and our sincerest thanks for their tremendous dedication and enthusiasm to share their Rugby knowledge in Indonesia. Hopefully through Rugby, relations between Japan and Indonesia will continue to strengthen in the future.