Green army descends on Fukuroka as wedding venue turns into pop-up Irish bar ahead of Japan clash

The little known city in Shizuoka opens its doors to the Japanese and Irish rugby fans tomorrow and will welcome the Irish Olympic team in a year's time as they gear up for the Tokyo games.

They are getting ready for their big day by turning a wedding venue into an Irish bar for the day, while the fan-zone is up and running to accommodate the expected 53,000 capacity crowd that will travel to the stadium.

Decked out in a brand-spanking new Irish jersey like many of his staff at City Hall where Ireland's Call blared out from the speakers in reception yesterday, Mayor Hideyuki Harada welcomed Irish journalists to his office yesterday to take questions over a cup of green tea and some locally grown water melon.

We are not the only visitors from our neck of the woods, the mayor is sitting alongside a signed Ireland rugby jersey and tells us how Joe Schmidt has already dropped by to say hello. It sounds like they got on famously.

Mayor Harada presented Schmidt with a water melon when he visited while he also paid a visit to Dublin back in April.

"I said to Mr Joe Schmidt that Japan is a really weak team and you needn't be worried about it at all, and he said, 'Oh no, Japan is a dangerous team, we have to look out for them'," he said with a broad smile, before adding that Johnny Sexton is his favourite Ireland player.

Informed that the out-half will miss out, he revealed that the Ireland coach was keeping his cards close to his chest.

"He hurt his leg, didn't he? Joe Schmidt didn't tell me that!"

Mayor Harada will be swapping his Ireland jersey for a Japan one for tomorrow's game, but like politicians across the world he knows how to play the green card.

"I have to wear the Japanese jersey in the stadium. But my heart is green!" he laughed.

Meanwhile, the green army descended upon Hamamatsu in their droves.

The city has been fairly quiet on the rugby front all week with supporters opting to base themselves in the more touristy parts of Japan, but they arrived on cue ahead of the clash against the hosts.

Dublin native Amy Anslow and her partner Craig Stewart, who despite hailing from Melbourne was decked out in his Ireland gear, have spent the last two weeks in Japan with their two-year old son Felix, who was delighted with a visit to the Tokyo zoo last week.

"We booked the trip around Christmas," Amy said.

"We arrived on the 18th, on the Wednesday before the first game. We spent five nights in Tokyo and went to the Scotland game, which was obviously amazing.

"The atmosphere was just brilliant. There were so many Irish fans there. There were lots of Japanese there as well.

"We looked up flights and they were actually very reasonable. We were able to get the three of us here for like €1,400, which was pretty good.

"I have been at the last two World Cups. I am going for the five in-a-row!

"Kyoto was absolutely stunning. You could easily spend a month there and not see half of it. There is a shrine and a temple on every block. Some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen."

Despite being in one of the busiest cities in the world, the couple managed to bump into a friend from home by chance in Tokyo.

"We did the standard Irish thing of walking 100 metres from the station and running into someone we knew from back home," Craig laughed.

"We knew she was going to be here but we didn't expect to see her,” Amy chuckled.

"Same side of the road, sitting there having a pint. It was very Irish alright!"

There is no sense of split loyalties for Craig, who although still has a strong Australian accent, is firmly behind Schmidt's men.

"I spent a bit of time working for Irish Rugby for the last few years so I would support them more anyway," he explained.

"I would watch more Irish rugby than Australian rugby. They are playing Wales on Sunday in Tokyo so we are hoping to get to that before we go home."

Confidence is high amongst the supporters who have arrived in Hamamatsu and Amy is expecting Ireland to build on last week's impressive win over Scotland.

"Oh, I think we'll win. Defintely, definitely," she added.

"After how we played last week, I am confident. I would say by about 10 to 15 points."