Co-creating hospitable moments in event experiences: Omotenashi at the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup

Within Japan, Japanese hospitality or omotenashi is seen as distinct from ‘western’ hospitality, which is seen as a transactional service, focusing on the provision of food and beverages. Omotenashi, on the other hand, is based on the cultivation of a relationship between host and guest and an anticipation of needs. This article examines the role that volunteers played in delivering omotenashi and in co-creating a hospitable environment at the 2019 Rugby World Cup (RWC) in Japan. To welcome visitors, 13,000 volunteers were mobilized in host cities across the country, the highest number of volunteers in the history of the RWC. As a social event, the tournament offered many opportunities for interaction between the hosts and visitors, allowing for a co-created experience. Employing a walking methodology and participant–observation conducted within the event spaces, this article demonstrates how the engagement of the local communities through hosting, volunteering and direct interaction with visitors contributed to the co-creation of the event experience, and how omotenashi was embedded in the experiencescape. The research finds that although visitors were provided with a space in which their service needs were met, the hospitable environment was largely created through interactions between visitors and volunteers and between visitors and other visitors, both domestic and international. Significantly, volunteers displayed omotenashi, engaging with visitors in (fleeting) relationships, rather than as service providers, contributing to a clear sense of communitas and welcome that would not be found in typical transactional hospitality.