High school “sports strong teams” are a part of school education and serve as an important foundation of Japanese competitive sports. However, even though their importance has been pointed out, up to now there has been little research focusing on “sports strong teams.” Therefore, this study sheds light on the historical characteristics of the high school “sports strong

The results of our research are as follows:

1. During the period of the establishment of high school reforms, the first health and physical education classes in Japan were taught at Tokyo Metropolitan Komaba High School. The first baby boom

generation went on to high school. Later, when the number of high school students suddenly decreased, private high schools began to position sports as an important pillar of a “distinctive education.”

2. In the 1980s, while various high school educational reforms were taking place, the educational value of sports became recognized, and the number of high schools that used sports and operated in distinctive

ways increased. However, now that the declining birthrate society has arrived, simply using sports for their educational value is no longer enough to call something distinctive education. Therefore, under these circumstances, some high schools have begun to aim aggressively for “strong” extracurricular sports activities.

3. However, during this period, comments were beginning to be made about the adverse effects of “strengthening” extracurricular sports activities. Specifically, schools where extracurricular sports

activities are employed excessively by school management have received criticism from the standpoint of education.

After the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups, the Japan Rugby Top League games attracted many new fans including female fans and niwaka fans (bandwagon fans/fair-weather fans). Understanding the characteristics of game attendees could be crucial to retain new fans and expand the fan base. The purpose of this study was to categorize attendees into four segments according to gender and fan types and to compare their characteristics, motivations for attending games, and knowledge of rugby. Data were collected from seven games at five venues from January 12 to 26, 2020. The four segments—male niwaka fans, female niwaka fans, male regular fans, and female regular fans—were compared by one-way analysis of variance. It was found that male regular fans had supported rugby since 1980, while female regular fans appeared after the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Further, the motivations of female niwaka fans and regular fans were different.