was a former Japanese rugby player, who played for Japan in three Rugby World Cup

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....

s from 1999 to 2007.

Career

Watanabe was born in Hokkaido, and joined the team Toshiba Brave Lupus

Toshiba Brave Lupus

Toshiba Brave Lupus 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 2005 under their innovative and inventive coach Masahiro...

 in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 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

Kamakura Station

is a railway station in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company .-Lines:Kamakura Station is served by the Yokosuka Line and Shōnan-Shinjuku Line. It is located 4.5 km from the junction at Ōfuna Station, and 53.9 km from Tokyo Station...

 in Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

. An employee at the station saw Watanabe fall at about 9:30 p.m.