The Typhoon Game

It all began when a close friend of mine from my university days in Australia invited me to watch a Rugby World Cup game. It was late summer in 2019, and the rugby world cup was being held in Japan. My friend invited me to watch Australia play against Georgia in Shizuoka prefecture. The match was held at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa.

We made plans to meet at Hamamatsu prior to kick off because neither of us had been to that area before and we wanted to visit the Hamamatsu Castle. We knew that there was a typhoon off the coast of Japan but we had our fingers crossed and hoped that the typhoon would dissipate before the game. However, the typhoon did not lose its strength and kept moving up the coast. We debated whether we would go to the match and risk getting caught in the typhoon, or cancelling the trip to Shizuoka. Ultimately, we concurred that since the tickets were paid for, we would take a leap in the dark and go see the game.

The trip to Hamamatsu was great. We visited the castle, took pictures, had lunch and arrived at Stadium Ecopa without a hitch. We had never been to a World Cup game before and even though we were concerned about the typhoon, any worry that we felt was overshadowed by our excitement. Kick off was in the evening but the weather kept worsening. We could not concentrate on fully enjoying the game because we were always checking to see if the Shinkansen was still in service. The wind kept picking up, so we made the decision to leave at half time. However, by then our concerns came true.

I had traveled to Shizuoka from Tokyo and my friend had come from Osaka. The Shinkansen to Tokyo was still operating, but unfortunately the Shinkansen to Osaka was delayed due to the strong winds. I had to leave my friend alone at Hamamatsu Station not knowing if he would be able to get home. When the Shinkansen to Tokyo arrived at Hamamatsu Station, I had to beat the hordes of other passengers trying to get home to Tokyo. It was a two-hour trip and I had to stand the entire way. It was not till the next morning that I found out my friend also safely got home on the last Shinkansen to Osaka.

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