Opinion | Rugby World Cup: how a failed kamikaze pilot became the soul of the game in Japan and Asia

There are no tales told by successful kamikaze pilots. Their first mission was always their last as they dive bombed their craft into allied vessels in the Pacific theatre during the waning days of the Second World War.

“The only reason I am still alive is that I wasn’t a very good pilot,” Shigero “Shiggy” Konno would repeatedly tell one and all up until his passing in 2007. According to Konno, his suicide mission kept getting put back until it was finally set to take off in early September, 1945. “Fortunately the war ended in August,” he said. “If I’d been a good pilot, I wouldn’t have been around to talk about it.”

It could also be argued that if Konno had been a better pilot, the 2019 Rugby World Cup would not be set to kick off in Japan.

The son of a senior bank employee, Konno spent part of his youth living in London where he developed a love for the game. The roots of rugby go back close to 130 years in Japan with a particularly strong connection at the university level that is still intact today. Konno was a standout at Doshisha University but his collegiate career was cut short by the war.

After the war ended, Konno helped re-establish rugby leagues and in 1952 he was a liaison for an Oxford University side touring the country. Along with executives from the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union, Konno also played a pivotal role in helping to set up the Asian Rugby Football Union. Thanks to his impeccable use of the Queen’s English and desire to engage foreign coaches and players in the development of Japanese rugby, Konno became a popular presence on the international rugby scene.