Japan gets a crash course in cricket as Asian Games bring sport to new audience

India survive Japan scare in five-over contest

The first recorded cricket match in Japan was played 163 years ago in Yokohama, but the sport never quite caught the imagination of the Japanese. Currently, around 7,300 people are registered with the Japan Cricket Association – that’s about 0.00593% of the country’s population!The tech-savvy nation, though, is leaving little to chance in its bid to create awareness about the game.

At Korogi Sports Park, the venue for the cricket competition, spectators are handed a leaflet that breaks down the basics of the sport through easy-to-follow visuals.

Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal TallyIt explains everything from the number of players on the field and fielding positions to umpires’ signals, the difference between a four and a six and how to read a scoreboard. Even the dimensions of the cricket field are put into perspective, with illustrations comparing them with football and baseball fields.Hinata Sato, a baseball mum, arrived with her 10-year-old son Yuto to watch the women’s final on Tuesday. Having watched her son play baseball at the venue, curiosity brought them back to the makeshift cricket stadium.“We have watched videos about cricket. My son wanted to watch it live and the ready reckoner helped him relate to what was happening on the ground. Cricket is really catching up in Japan,” she said.

Cuisine lost in translationWhile the Indian men’s cricket team soaked in their first experience of Japanese cuisine by braving the rain in Tokyo to sample some local fare, athletes who have spent more than a week here are already craving for something familiar.

Those staying on cruise ships have access to Indian food, but athletes housed in hotels have been exploring Nagoya in search of restaurants serving a taste of home.For one vegetarian athlete, the search was made more difficult by the language barrier and unfamiliarity with Japanese cuisine.“Hum ghaas-phoos khane wale ka struggle bahut hai! Most restaurants have a non-veg odour that doesn’t agree with me. Language is a huge problem. When you ask for food without meat, they don’t understand,” the athlete said.“I’m super glad to have found a couple of Indian restaurants. They have been very warm, gave us their contact details and sent us food whenever we asked.”