Pictured: Owen Farrell celebrates the England rugby team’s victory over Australia on October 19
His wry smile in response to the New Zealand haka — let’s not call it a smirk — was one of the defining moments of England’s imperious semi-final win over the All Blacks last weekend.
And I am pleased to say the England captain, Owen Farrell, is still half-smiling on the eve of the biggest game of his life. ‘We’re good, we’re calm,’ he says when I meet him at the team hotel in Tokyo.
Is he aware of just how un-calm everyone is back home? Do the players, I wonder, have any idea of the sort of excitement sweeping Blighty?
‘We’re not following it, but we’re aware of it,’ says Farrell serenely.
In what way? ‘Well, you lot [journalists] are all here,’ he says, cracking another wry smile.
Serenity is a virtue in Japan and there is plenty of it inside England’s HQ. As Farrell puts it: ‘We’re not bothered about things that don’t really matter.’
These have been remarkable weeks, not just for England, but for Britain and the host nation, too. The Rugby World Cup has been a huge success in a nation where, until now, it was a niche sport.
Japan’s last match in the tournament, before bowing out to South Africa in the quarter-finals, was watched on television by a staggering 60 million people — half the population.
And such is the interest in tomorrow’s final in Yokohama that the authorities will screen it live on megascreens in Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium. Tickets are going fast.
England are now the adopted team of most Japanese fans — not least because England’s coach, Eddie Jones, is the former coach of Japan, his mother was Japanese-American and his wife Hiroko is Japanese.
These have been remarkable weeks, not just for England, but for Britain and the host nation, too (Pictured: England fans at Sapporo Dome, Japan)
Pictured: England players watch as the New Zealand team perform a haka during the Rugby World Cup Semi-Final match on Saturday
‘I am constantly being told by people that they are supporting England in the final,’ British Ambassador Paul Madden tells me.
‘There was a great moment when the Welsh squad arrived at their training camp in Kitakyushu and 12,000 local people welcomed them by singing the Welsh anthem. They had learned it phonetically.’
It is estimated Japan has seen an influx of 50,000 British tourists in the past few weeks due to the rugby.
At the Hobgoblin Pub in the Tokyo’s Roppongi district, bar staff report that the rugby crowd are drinking far more than England football fans did during the 2002 football world cup here. Yet there have been no reports of trouble.
Among those gathering for the final is a man who has chucked in his sales job to be here. ‘My bosses wouldn’t let me take four weeks off as holiday so I decided to hand in my notice,’ says Billy Nathan, 22, from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
He is here with Ed Silk, 25, and his brother, Will, 23, who have used up their own holiday allowances and life savings to make the trip.
They managed to get tickets for tomorrow’s final courtesy of an unhappy Kiwi. It cost them £1,000 each. They say the Japanese have seriously underrated English passion for the game.
‘Every England game we’ve been to, they’ve run out of beer,’ says Ed. ‘And you can’t find any England merchandise. Only replica Namibian and Canadian shirts are left at the official shop.’
Such is the appetite for our brand of rugby in these parts.
England are now the adopted team of most Japanese fans — not least because England’s coach, Eddie Jones, is the former coach of Japan, his mother was Japanese-American
On top of the rugby, they have just had a coronation here — an enthronement to give it its correct name. Following the decision by 85-year-old Emperor Akihito to hand over to his son, Naruhito, there is a sense of renewal.
With each new monarch, comes a new calendar — this is the first year of the Reiwa or ‘beautiful harmony’ reign.
This month, Shinzo Abe, becomes the longest-serving prime minister in Japan’s history. His financial policies, known as ‘Abenomics’, have steered the country out of back-to-back decades of stagnation. And to cap it all, the country is about to host the 2020 Olympics.
They are in buoyant mood at the British Embassy, too. Having declared this as UK In Japan Year, our stock is high, Brexit or no Brexit.
Next week, the BBC stages in Tokyo a Last Night Of The Proms and the Royal Shakespeare Company is touring Japan. Five Royal Navy warships have paid official visits, British brands such as Land Rover are everywhere, and the Royal Family have been stopping off, too.
The Princess Royal, patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, was here to cheer on Scotland in the tournament, followed by the Prince of Wales at the enthronement. Now, the Duke of Sussex, patron of the Rugby Football Union, is in town to cheer on England.
And while the Springboks will be represented in the VIP box by South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa himself, England can surely look to Prince Harry as a lucky mascot.
He is the one member of the 2019 England delegation who was also at the World Cup final in 2003. And we all know what happened then…