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PREP FOOTBALL Ashland welcomes Japanese contingent for 14th Pacific Rim Bowl Comment By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 27, 2015 at 2:00 AM By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 27, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Social News ASHLAND — As dozens of Japanese football players shuffled up the steps behind Ashland High School’s Mountain Avenue Gym, cutting through a sea of smiling faces in search of their host families, Grizzly head coach Charlie Hall likened the whole scene to an offering of sorts, and Ashland as both the giver and receiver. “This is my third home Pacific Rim Bowl since I’ve been the head coach,” he said, “and it’s always an awesome feeling because you just see the smiles on the players’ and coaches’ faces. … There’s so much anticipation because it’s a big event for both groups and for all the work that they’ve done fundraising-wise and that we’ve done organizational-wise. Now finally it’s here and we can start unraveling it, I guess, like a big present. It’s a great gift to our community.” Ashland ripped the wrapping paper off the 14th Pacific Rim Bowl on Sunday afternoon when a bus carrying the Japanese all-star team and its coaches pulled into the AHS parking lot, kicking off a week of festivities all leading up to Friday’s game at Raider Stadium. The game, which debuted in 1988, pits Ashland High School’s varsity football team against a collection of Japanese all-stars every other year at alternating sites. A crowd of about 100 parents, players and coaches greeted their Japanese counterparts with a loud ovation as the bus pulled to a stop, then cheered louder as players and coaches, one by one, stepped into the light, ending a 5,000-mile journey that began some 36 hours prior in Osaka, Japan. The anticipation among the Ashlanders on hand started to build about an hour before the bus pulled in. Following a roll call to make sure all the host families were accounted for, Ashland’s players and parents made their way to the front of the gym at about 2:30 p.m. Ten minutes later word spread that Japan had exited the freeway, and soon thereafter applause erupted as the first charter bus rolled into the parking lot. The Ashland greeters held up signs that spelled out Japanese names — the players they would be hosting. “Well, I don’t really know what to expect, honestly,” said Ashland receiver/defensive back Oliver Warren, whose family will be hosting two Japanese players. “The only thing I’ve said to them (before Sunday) was in a tiny email about my house. I’m just kind of taking it all in right now.” Ashland senior quarterback Kyle Weinberg traveled to Japan two years ago for the 13th PRB and, prior to Sunday’s arrival, said he couldn’t wait to take his “host brothers” sightseeing. “Since we knew about them coming I was just thinking about things to show them about American culture,” said Weinberg, whose brother Nickey is a Grizzly receiver. “I have to show them the mountains, I have to show them the rivers and stuff, all the things that are characteristic of Oregon. I definitely still think I’m going to do that, but I also want to give them time to rest because I know how tired I was in Japan. I was falling asleep during the day and then at night I was awake.” After the brief connection between host families and players the entire group dispersed to homes so that the Japanese could drop off their gear and get ready for the first activity of the week, the welcome picnic at Emigrant Lake, Sunday afternoon. Always jam-packed with outings, this year’s Pacific Rim Bowl schedule is even more stuffed than usual. Both teams will be participating in a friendly competition medley on Monday, the first-ever PRB Peace Ceremony on Tuesday and a shopping trip to the Rogue Valley Mall and Cascade Athletic Supply in Medford on Friday morning. The Japanese contingent will also visit Crater Lake on Wednesday and go on a Hellgate Jet Boat ride on Thursday. The game is scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. — after a pregame ceremony that starts at 7 — and will be followed by a postgame player and parent party at Northwest Pizza & Pasta Company. The Peace Ceremony will begin at noon at the Lithia Park band shell and will include a speech by Hiroshima, Japan atomic bomb survivor and “One Sunny Day” author Hideko Tamura (the 70-year anniversary of the bomb’s detonation is Aug. 6). When Tamura, 81, heard about the Pacific Rim Bowl she decided that she wanted to be a part of it, and she was there with the rest of the AHS crowd on Sunday, sporting a sun hat and holding a welcome sign. Tears formed in Tamura’s eyes as she described what it felt like to see the Japanese players step off the bus. The Pacific Rim Bowl, she said, is an event that should be celebrated. “The essence of what I want to convey,” she said, “is that what the American boys and their families and what the Japanese boys and their teachers are doing, to me, is a historical event. It moves our minds to encourage that it’s possible to have a caring-for-one-another kind of world.” Hall said that that’s part of what makes the PRB special for him, too. “In the 70th anniversary of the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when you look at the Japanese-American relationship since then, I think what a great statement this is,” he said. “And with me being half-Japanese, the whole experience is just a great opportunity for me to be able to connect with my heritage and to share the things that I appreciate about being Japanese.” By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Joe Zavala for the Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 27, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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