 The growth of Japanese rugby in the early 20th century at the height of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was rapid; by the 1920s, there were nearly 1,500 rugby clubs, and more than 60,000 registered players, which meant that its resources were larger than those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined.Despite these extremely impressive figures, Japanese rugby was still isolated, and to an extent insular – the first rugby tours to Japan did not occur until the 1930s.The JRFU published a pamphlet about the same time called "The Land of the Rising Scrum".