Venue Locations &Travel in Japan

CLICK on highlighted areas for LINKS

Before going on to the actual venues and travel suggestions, let us start with the basics. Here are are 2 excellent links I have found that give a myriad of further links to details and options.

 The Basics for Rugby Fans travelling to Japan

Japan Guide.com--Rugby 2019

Here is a sub-page with tips for travelling, baggage and what you may need to bring to Japan   Baggage, packing, travelling. 

The following links are useful for planning rail and bus journeys around Japan including the Tokyo rail system. See further down this page [under Tokyo area links] for Tokyo Subway & Rail system.

  JAPAN TRANSIT PLANNER          

 'Bullet' Train Network for wider travel around Japan

N.B. Everyone should do their own research on the likely journeys and routes they are planning within Japan by train. It may not be good value for everyone to purchase the rail pass issued by one particular train company. 

For traveling Irish fans there are four venues for our pool matches between the 22nd September and 12th October. These four stadiums are near the four cities of Yokahama, Fukoroi City, Kobe, and Fukuoka.

Yokahama Sadium       Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa

       Kobe City-Masaki Park Stadium         Fukuoka Stadium

STADIUM DIRECTIONS USING EXCELLENT RAIL LINKS
Nissan Stadium (Yokohama): 15 minute walk from JR Shin-Yokohama Station    * See More recently found info further down

*Shizuoka Stadium ECOPA: 20-30 minute walk from JR Aino Station
NB. This stadium is located in Shizuoka PREFECTURE, not Shizuoka City. The nearest city is actually Fukuroi, but alight for stadium at Aino Station.

Noevir Stadium Kobe: 10 minute walk from JR Wadamisaki Station or Misaki-koen Station on the Kaigan Subway Line

Level5 Stadium (Fukuoka): 8 minute bus ride from Fukuoka Airport
Take Kuko Line from Hakata Station near city centre to Domestic Terminal of Fukuoka  Airport and take southbound bus to park where stadium is located.


Good nearby bases to stay for these venues while enjoying plenty sightseeing, good eating & drinking, and other things to do are as follows in order of matches.

TOKYO---- If you are arriving in Tokyo [and most of us will be], then this is the perfect base to stay for the first match. It is only about an hour  from the Yokahama Stadium by train. 

Tokyo--Capital of Japan       

YOKOHAMA- **- -  https://rugby.japantoday.com/guides/yokohama/tips/welcome-to-yokohama/    

Here is a link link to getting around TOKYO by Rail and Subway.  /travel-guide/tokyo-train-subway   Look underneath the map for more information.

Tourist passes are good value for travelling on Tokyo subway.

TOKYO SUBWAY TOURIST PASSES

 SHIZUOKA AREA or NAGOYA CITY--- You can start moving westwards for the next matches or you can stay in Tokyo and reach  2nd venue from there. I prefer to start moving and exploring more of Japan, it also means less journey time to move on to 3rd venue.
   I would say the areas closest to the Shizuoka Stadium in the Shizuoka province are getting pretty booked up by now. I have given a link here---.rugbyworldcup.com / - Shizuoka-Prefecture
 There is little of interest here except the iconic Mount Fuji. Nagoya however has much to offer.    NAGOYA City further north and west is ideal for getting to the Shizuoka Stadium in Fukuroi for the second match in our pool, and offers a great base to explore/sightsee/enjoy culture.       Japan-guide.com/ NAGOYA                                                   

The THIRD MATCH for Ireland is in the city of Kobe, which is a little further west of the central area, still on the main island of Honshu, but on the south coast between two peninsulas. Kobe is a very modern city that is highly attractive and has a hot spring within city limits, beautiful japanese landscape garden and offers the world famous 'Kobe Beef' and also Sake (saki) Breweries. It is a great base for striking out on day trips to Kyoto, or the ancient city of Nara. Why not take  take a day trip to Himeji to see Himeji Castle & experience Mount Shosha  where some of 'The Last Samurai' was filmed due to authentic ancient infastructure.

There is time to meander off route  heading westwards towards the final pool match in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu in southwest Japan.  -------- Ideas to follow

All other venues for Rugby World Cup in Japan 2019.

If you are interested in the venues for non Ireland matches, including all the other pools here is some location info for all venues for RWC 2019  and some maps. I will start with the maps.
Here are the four main islands of Japan. 

All 12 venues are on three of these islands; Honshu (8 venues),
Kyushu (3 venues), and Hokkaido (1 venue). Do not worry, the Bullet trains link and traverse all 4 islands. 
Click on the enlargement in title bar of the google map below to see all venues in new window.

All TWELVE Rugby Locations for RWC 2019-- from Northeast to Southwest [approx] 

Sapporo Dome-- Sapporo City on Hokkaido island in  far north of Japan

Kamaishi--- At the very northern end of the main island of Honshu

Tokyo Stadium--- on western dide of the city

Yokohama---  A satalite city south of Tokyo about 90mins by fast train from city centre.

Kumagaya City--- A little way NW of Tokyo on the way to Niigata on the main island of Honshu

Shizuoka Stadium--near Fukuroi City, near the south coast and Mt Fuji, on the main route westwards to the centre of Japan.

Toyota---- Near the larger city of Nagoya, heading into centre of Japan

Hanazono Stadium, Osaka---- Large port city on central coast

Kobe--- Just west of Osaka.Kobe is a scenic tourist city.

Fukuoka-- On the southern-most of the four main islands of Japan, Kyushu. The nearest to the road & rail links to the rest of Japan.

Kumamoto--- is located south of Fukuoka on Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands

Oita ---  This city is also on Kyushu, on the east coast of the island.