Sunwolves and Northland pair Dan and Kara Pryor are making the most of the cultural shift in playing Super Rugby in Japan, even teaching their new teammates some Te Reo Māori.
The brothers are of Ngati Pikiao and Ngati Awa descent.
Sitting down with TVNZ 1's Te Karare, 30-year old Dan and 27-year old Kara opened up about their experiences in Japanese rugby, with language a common bonding point for the squad.
"The [Japanese] language is interesting," Kara began.
"The vowels are the same as te reo. The little words we do pick up, we'll go up and say it.
"Because we pronounce it correctly, they think we speak Japanese and then come back at us."
"The Japanese boys are really good, they help us. We teach them a little bit of English, they come up with a little bit of Japanese, a couple of Māori words too.
"They love saying 'yoza', that's their favourite one."
The pair have also been looking into translations of their names into Japanese, and although Dan may not covert into Japanese, Kara wasn't so lucky.
"Our manager would know," said Dan, before revealing that Kara translates to "empty."
"Empty in the mind, 100 per cent correct."
The pair will be in action for the Sunwolves this weekend, taking on Kara's former side the Blues at QBE Stadium.
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