(2 July 1974 – 3 April 2010) was a Japanese rugby player, who played for Japan in three
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
s from 1999 to 2007.
Career
Watanabe was born in Hokkaido, and joined the team
Toshiba Brave Lupus
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo is a Japanese rugby union team in the Top League. They are based in Fuchu, Tokyo, as is their local rival Suntory Sungoliath. They won the second ever Top League championship in the 2004-5 season and the Microsoft Cup ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
in 1997 after graduating from Nippon Sport Science University. He played 32 times for the national team and in Brave Lupus's hat-trick of Japanese domestic league titles between 2004 and 2006.
Death
On 3 April 2010, Yasunori died at the age of 35, when he fell off a train station platform and was hit by a train at
Kamakura Station
is a railway station on the Yokosuka Line in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East).
Lines
Kamakura Station is served by the Yokosuka Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line. It is located from the junction at ...
in
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
. An employee at the station saw Watanabe fall at about 9:30 p.m.
"ラグビー元日本代表が転落死 鎌倉駅で渡辺泰憲さん" (5 April 2010)
Retrieved 16 April 2010
References
*
* The Guardian
"Japan rugby player Yasunori Watanabe killed after being hit by train" (5 April 2010)
Retrieved 16 April 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Yasunori
1974 births
2010 deaths
Japanese rugby union players
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo players
Railway accident deaths in Japan
Japan international rugby union players
Rugby union locks
Rugby union flankers