In the Rugby World Cup (World Cup), the Japanese national team will face the third league match of Samoa on the 5th. Until now, Japan's competition results have been greatly led by 4 wins and 11 losses, but Japan won in the first league of the previous tournament. Nonetheless, Samoa, known as the “Islander” and known as a South Pacific rugby powerhouse, has made it to the top eight in the past World Cup. By the way, what kind of country is Samoa? When we looked at one of the hottest battles, it was actually a country with a global reach.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the official name of Samoa is “Independent State of Samoa”. This is because Samoa is the name of a long island in the middle of the South Pacific, east and west, of which two islands on the west are independent Samoa and the remaining islands on the east are American Samoa belonging to the United States.
Samoa's history began in 1722 when a Dutch explorer discovered the Samoa Islands. In the 1860s, Germany, Britain and the United States fought for power over control. In 1899, Germany occupied Samoa, an independent country called Western Samoa at the time, and the United States occupied the current American Samoa. Western Samoa was commissioned by the League of Nations in 1919, and New Zealand will rule. In 1962, it became independent for the first time in countries in the Pacific Islands, and in 1997 it changed its name from Western Samoa to Samoa Independent.
Samoa's area is 2830 square kilometers, about 1.3 times that of Tokyo. According to the World Bank, the population as of 2017 is about 200,000. Since the population of Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture is approximately 230,000 (as of the end of August), it is about the size of a central city in Japan. How did Samoa become a rugby powerhouse?
Many people think of Samoa as a man with a strong physique. Rugby representatives from Japan also say that Samoa is heavy, “Individuals are strong and have destructive power” and wary about their power.
“It's a great word for its physical ability,” says Matori Yamamoto, Professor of Hosei University, a cultural anthropologist who attends fieldwork once every two to three years from about 40 years ago.
The impression comes from the surprise when I saw a graduate student from Samoa playing volleyball when I went to study at the University of Hawaii in 1978. “I don't say it as a sumo, but I was really surprised that a thick and solid type of man jumped up on the net and hit a spike.”
Jack until the 90's ...
