Bidding to Host a Sports Mega-event During Post-disaster Reconstruction:

The Challenge of the Small Provincial City of Kamaishi

Abstract

　Since the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, sports mega-events (sports mega-event hereinafter called “SM”) held in Japan have been associated and discussed in conjunction with the disaster. The efforts to recover the daily lives of the disasteraffected areas must be closely linked to SMs, and although these efforts are important in studying the relationship between the disaster and SMs, earlier studies have not fully discussed this area in depth.
　The purpose of this paper is to clarify the logic behind a city affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake to host Rugby World Cup 2019 (hereinafter called “RWC) matches, by focusing on Kamaishi City in Iwate Prefecture which is hosting RWC matches. The study conducted research of resource materials and interviews to trace the process that led to Kamaishi City hosting RWC. This study first clarified the city government’s strategic approach in aiming to host RWC, which is considered to raise the prospect of overcoming regional issues faced by the city since before the disaster while utilizing local resources. It also highlighted the fact that discussions in depth related to hosting RWC could not be held between the local government and residents due to factors such as structural constraints caused by the disaster and SM. In order to achieve post-disaster reconstruction through hosting a SM, this study suggests the importance of examining the possibility of hosting a SM in tandem with concrete efforts toward reconstruction in the disaster-affected area.