The Canada team savour the local customs, costumes and culinary delights, while locals embrace the players with gifts and warm welcomes.

NAGATO, 18 Sep - The official kit of Canada's rugby team is red and black but behind the scenes there is another uniform the players have adopted at Rugby World Cup 2019.

The yukata, a less formal version of the kimono, has become a new fashion item among Canada's rugby elite, who often wear the garment to meals and while visiting onsen, traditional Japanese hot spring baths.

Some players are even planning to take custom-made designs of the yukata back home.

"I'll be wearing them as much as I can," second-row Josh Larsen said. "Shower up, get into one now and then, spice it up, change it up. They're very comfortable."

The fashion statement is just one of the many ways the Canadian players have embraced a Japanese lifestyle since arriving at their training camp in Nagato last week. Rice harvesting and making chicken skewers have also been checked off the list, while soba noodle preparation and net fishing are planned.

"It's such a unique and different culture to what we're used to back home and every chance we get to go do something, all the boys were really keen to go and try everything," prop Cole Keith said. "It's been awesome."

In addition to its cultural novelty, the rice harvesting excursion was a professional revelation for fellow front-rower Hubert Buydens (pictured above), who hails from a farming family in Saskatchewan.

"I'm from the Prairies in Canada and it's a huge difference," Buydens said. "My family are farmers and they grow grain, but here it's a little combine machine that harvests the rice and back home you can basically get in the house and drive it around.

"The scale of it here is so much smaller than back home. It was very interesting to see how everything is done and how everything works. The process was very interesting."

While the Canadians have embraced Japanese culture, the locals have given the athletes a roaring welcome in turn.

Nagato, a town in southern Japan with a population of less than 50,000, has undergone a Canadian-themed makeover to celebrate the team's arrival. Bus stops and some buildings along the forested road leading to the training ground are decorated with Canadian flags, while the team hotel has the Canadian-Japanese flag criss-cross in the lobby entrance.

"There are photos and there are paintings all around the town," Keith said. "It's really great how they've embraced us coming here and we really appreciate everything they've done for us so far."

Gifts, including a package of about 50kg of meat from local government officials, have also been common.

"There seems to be every couple of days a gift from somebody that just shows up, and you're like, 'Oh, where did this come from? Thank you very much',” Buydens said.

The players tend to attract a crowd wherever they go in Nagato. The team's open training sessions packed out the stands, while a visit to the Yuya Elementary School on Tuesday brought out all the students, lined up in perfect formation and wearing the Canadian training kit shirts, which they then eagerly offered up for autographs.

"It's been an exceptional welcome. You go to a tour spot and there's a busload of Japanese people there welcoming you to their little spot," Buydens said. "It's very heart-warming."

RNS ls/dh/pp/mr