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PART SPORTS AND HEALTH

PART A Promotion of Physical Education and Sports

As we approach the 21st century, sports are increasingly becoming an essential part of maintaining a healthy and active physical and mental life. In fact, it has become more important for the government to further a sports promotion policy that can cope with the increasingly sophisticated and diversified needs for sports among the nation's citizens.

Acting on suggestions from the November 1989 report of the Health and Physical Education Council entitled "Strategies for the Promotion of Sports towards the 21st Century," the Ministry has been taking the following measures.

First, the development of sports facilities. In order to improve local citizens' access to sports facilities so that they may participate in sports on a daily basis, the Ministry is promoting the construction and enrichment of sports facilities such as gymnasiums, swimming pools and athletic grounds on a planned basis according to local needs and conditions.

Second, improvements in "sports-for-all". With a view towards helping people enjoy sports and lead healthy and active lives both mentally and physically, the Ministry is taking measures to positively promote and encourage improvements in a wide range of conditions so that people can conveniently enjoy participating in sports wherever they live and whenever they desire. Such measures include not only updating sports facilities but also training and securing leaders and coaches, providing a wider range of sports programs and further developing sports organizations.

Third, the promotion of competitive sports is an important issue. In keeping with the expectations of the people for Japan's national athletes to achieve excellence at the Olympics and other international sports events, the Ministry is upgrading training activities for athletes and leadership training. Also the Ministry is promoting the establishment of a National Center of Sports Science (tentative name), a facility for carrying out scientific research in sports and scientific training. In addition, work is being done to enrich and strengthen the support system for raising national athletic competitiveness throunh supporting the following events: the 12th Asian Games, Hiroshima 1994, The 1995 Summer Universiade, Fukuoka, the 18th Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998, etc.

Fourth, the task of improving physical education in schools. School physical education is being positively promoted since it plays a very important role towards: increasing the physical strength of children, developing their abilities and fostering a positive attitude toward sports and exercise. It is also highly significant in the promotion of "sports-for-all".

Owing to the fact that sports can bring people together under common rules and can serve to strengthen friendships, the Ministry is furthering international sports promotion. The Ministry is also encouraging a system where sports promotion can be more widely carried out with cooperation from the private sector, i.e., where industry and private companies etc., can provide financial and other support for the promotion of sports.

The establishment of a sports promotion fund which would provide a secure, continuous and flexibly applicable flow of funds to help to raise the nation's competitive level and promote various activities which popularize sports has been long hoped for by people from the sports world as well as the general public. Thus in order to boost sports promotion in Japan, the Ministry carried out investigations into establishing such a fund beginning in 1989.

Following the momentum of the 1990 Asian Games held in Beijing, the movement to create such a fund gathered speed as persons from the sports world, the business world and other sectors of society expressed their requests for its early establishment and as actual pledges of funding came in from the private sector.

In line with these developments the 1990 supplementary budget apportioned government funds for establishing a Sports Promotion Fund within the National Stadium and School Health Center of Japan, and following partial amendments in the Center's Law, a Sports Promotion Fund was set up within the Center on December 27th. 1990.

The Fund is composed of a government grant of 25 billion yen and contributions from the private sector. The following activities are supported through the working profits from the Fund: 1) training activities conducted by sports associations such as training camps, retreats or competitive matches 2) holding athletic meets at the national and international level as well as study meetings and intensive courses 3) support for trainers and athletes so that they can devote themselves to training activities without undue financial worries 4) projects to support grand scale international athletic events such as sending mountain climbing teams to challenge unscaled peaks. Through the establishment of this Fund Japan's support structure for sports promotion has been strengthened.

In 1990 the Fund was applied only to urgently needed athletic training projects and activities related to competitive sports. However, since 1991 support for projects and activities related to sports-for-all has also been provided.

In regard to actual awards granted, out of 798 applications for funding, a total of 539 were approved. The total amount of funding awarded amounted to 1,253,350,000 yen.

As to the decisions made regarding which activities will receive funding, all decisions for allocating funds are made through a Sports Promotion Fund Awards Committee made up of learned and experienced persons and persons from the sports world and the general public in order to better reflect a wider range of opinions.