Three rugby members from the Japan Overseas Corporation Volunteers arrived back to Japan after each spending 2 years in India, Kyrgystan and Sri Lanka. On July 10, returning members gave their activity reports. One member, who has been dispatched to Indonesia, presented his activity plans.

Kurume Yuhei was involved in finding and coaching a new rugby club at the National Sports Academy of Kyrgyzstan. It first started with 4 players, but as a result of steady activities, the number of players increased to 15. He was glad to see players who did not initially know how to play rugby continue to learn and practice. Eventually they learned the rules and how to play the game.

 There were days when I was worried about who would be interested in rugby, but I thought about why I like rugby and the reasons were that I wanted to go to Kyrgyzstan as a volunteer. I was aware that having fun and developing different activities was the best way to learn rugby.

Mori Makoto was based at the Sports Promotion Section of Galle Country Office, Sri Lanka. He realized that children in Sri Lanka deeply enjoy sports. There are so many cultural experiences to share. For example, seeing players eating nuts off the tress during practice was very shocking. Recognizing and communicating other values and cultures was the most valuable lesson that he learned.

Tokutake Hiroki, who participated in a video conference, said that he felt a lot of affection through activities in India. One day he would like to to go back to India.

Higa Subaru, who will be dispatched to Indonesia, said that he would like to build a program that will spread rugby in Indonesia.

Questions for Kurume Yohei & Makoto Mori:

1. How should I prepare to go overseas and be a rugby member for JICA?

Kurume responded, "I did not prepare anything at all because I wanted to find everything with my own eyes”.

Mori responded, "Sri Lanka is a country of other ethnic religions, so knowing what not to do and taboos in advance will be very helpful”.

2. What are their plans in the future?

Both volunteers said that they wanted to get involved with the 2019 Rugby World Cup and/or 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games. By participating in the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers. Feeling towards rugby have become even stronger.