ACTUALITE |
26.02.2002
World-Japanese village awaits Indomitable Lions
NAKATSUE
- Those who bother to drive up the winding road through the mountains to this Japanese village are greeted by a sign: ``Bienvenue a Nakatsue!``
The bright green, red and yellow Cameroon flag flies side-by-side with the red-on-white Japanese pennant atop the village hall.
Village officials and even kindergarten children are taking lessons in French, the official language of Cameroon.
For the 1,370 residents of Nakatsue, on the southern island of Kyushu some 800 km from Tokyo, the African nation on the other side of the world has suddenly become familiar.
The Indomitable Lions are coming to town.
Cameroon, winner of this year`s African Nations Cup soccer title for a record fourth time and gold medallists at the 2000 Olympics, will hold their training camp in Nakatsue in May ahead of the World Cup tournament hosted by Japan and South Korea.
``I said to myself: `Are they really going to come to this place, out in nowhere in the mountains?`,`` said Motonori Ino, who works at the village sports centre where the team will train.
``Even after it became official, I still could not believe it,`` he said.
About 90 percent of the village is woodland, and locals say racoons and boars are as common as humans.
Like many rural communities in Japan, Nakatsue has seen its young people flee to brighter urban lights and about 40 percent of its population is aged 65 or older.
Children must travel to a neighbouring village to attend junior high school and the sports centre relies on youngsters who come from elsewhere for soccer and rugby camps to fill its beds and fields.
But Mayor Yasumu Sakamoto says the very remoteness of Nakatsue was its main draw.
``I knew they would choose us because they had said they wanted to stay at a lonely place, like they did for the France World Cup,`` he said in his office adorned with replica Cameroon kits and other soccer gear.
NO GOLD RUSH
Before World War Two, Nakatsue was home to a gold mine villagers remember as one of Asia`s biggest.
Villagers are not expecting another gold rush but they do hope some World Cup glitter will rub off with Cameroon`s visit.
Local governments vied fiercely to be picked as one of Japan`s 25 training camps for the tournament in hopes of raising their profiles and perhaps filling their municipal coffers.
Some municipalities were even said to have paid dubious ``agents`` or offered huge sums of money to the teams in a bid to attract training camps.
The sports centre, originally a building in the old mine compound, was converted 13 years ago to its current use but its future was clouded by the dwindling number of local children.
``There are similar centres which are national and people would rather go there than come to a facility run by some unknown village,`` said Shunsuke Hase, the general manager of the centre.
``We wanted a stamp of approval.``
The village saw hope for that sort of boost from the World Cup and upgraded the sports centre to meet standards for a camp.
Hase said that all he had hoped for was to be able to call the centre a World Cup camp site venue.
``To be honest, I didn`t think a team would actually come.``
FIELD OF DREAMS
Mayor Sakamoto said the village was not looking to turn a profit from the centre nor did he expect the publicity to suddenly turn Nakatsue into a popular tourist site.
``People ask me about the economic impact but we have no hotels or things to sell anyway,`` he said.
``We`re not looking to make a profit...This will provide kids with a dream. They can play soccer on the same field that Patrick Mboma did,`` he said, referring to Cameroon`s ace striker.
While village officials are ecstatic over the training camp, they worry about whether they can live up to their obligations as international hosts.
And they have a lot to learn about their guests.
``Cameroon -- that`s a bit south of Spain, right?`` said Hiroko Kawamura, a 64-year-old inn-keeper.
Tyler Russell, a 26-year-old Canadian and previously the only resident who spoke French in Nakatsue, is teaching the language to village officials and kindergarten children.
Cameroon has praised the soccer fields for their excellent grass pitches but Ino of the sports centre is still nervous.
``After all, it`s basically a facility for kids,`` he said.
Bunk beds which can sleep four children will be replaced by double beds supplied by a resort hotel in a nearby village.
Still, some fear even the new beds will not suffice for Cameroon`s lanky players. Quipped one official: ``Maybe we have to ask them to sleep diagonally.``
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