Learning to be a 'rugger man': Media constructions of high school rugby in Japan

Although rugby is not as popular as baseball or soccer (since 1993) its national championships attract considerable media attention that is evenly split between the soccer championships held in Tokyo and the overlapping rugby championships held in Osaka. There are approximately 1200 high schools and 300 junior high schools fielding rugby teams in Japan and, for the boys who are members of the teams that qualify, the annual national championships constitute the culmination of three years of sustained effort at senior high school. The more committed high school teams may train almost daily for up to twelve months of the year and for many boys playing at this level it can provide access to university education and employment. As such it forms a highly significant experience in the formation of their masculine identity and the way that the media represents the ‘ritual’ at the championships at Hanazono represents a powerful force in the development of adolescent masculinity. This article examines the ways in which television and print media represent the practice of high school rugby football at the Japanese high schools national rugby championships and its role in the construction of a hegemonic masculinity. More specifically, it looks at the selective processes through which the media present events on the field and represent a diverse community as homogenous and uniform (King & Rowse, 1983), conforming to a dominant model of masculinity