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PART SPORTS AND HEALTH

PART A Promotion of Physical Education and Sports

A high priority policy task for the nation is the actualization of a society in which sports can be enjoyed by every citizen, no matter what their age or level of physical ability, throughout all periods of their life at convenient times and locations.

Promotion of "sports-for-all" is important in that it encourages each citizen to have a more positive outlook and live a more fulfilling and purposeful life. Furthermore, as Japan is undergoing a transition towards becoming a "lifelong learning society," this task should be considered all the more important. Three conditions must be dealt with in order to develop sports-for-all promotion: l) facilities 2) leaders (trainers/instructors, coaches, etc.,) and 3) activities. More specifically this means: providing the facilities for sports activities, training and securing personnel with excellent leadership abilities, and hosting events to meet individual needs.

In keeping with the growth trend in outdoor sports, it is important to make efforts to secure grounds, places and take advantage of opportunities so that more people can enjoy a diversity of outdoor sports such as mountain climbing, camping, cycling, orienteering in addition to airborne sports (skydiving, etc.) and marine sports. Consideration should be given to environmental improvements in sports, particularly sports accident prevention through safety instruction/training.

In March of 1992, the Ministry administered a "Survey on Services Provided by Sports Facilities and on their Related Activities" (Facility Service Survey) in order to ascertain what actual services were being provided by public and commercial sports facilities; (738 public sports facilities and 1,086 commercial sports facilities responded to the questionnaire). The survey targeted multiple public facilities and commercial sports facilities offering fitness training or swimming or tennis.

The results of the survey regarding training staff placement showed that on average, public facilities employed 1 full time and 2.2 part time training staff, compared to commercial facilities which employed an average of 7.2 full time and 10.7 part time training staff members. From this it can be inferred that while public sports facilities mainly lease facilities with administrations of upkeep and procuring facilities as their principal services, commercial sports facilities put more emphasis on instructional services such as holding sports classes

More than half of the public sports facilities surveyed did not expressly carry out any kind of program for staff development. By comparison, over 60% of the commercial facilities carried out in-house training programs. Also, more than 60% dispatched staff to outside training programs. In addition while programs for training staff at commercial facilities are in-house or are organized by sports associations, the majority of programs for training staff at public sports facilities are organized by the national or local governments. For both types of facilities, short-term training programs of less than a week's duration are by far the most common.

According to the Facility Service Survey, in the future, both public and commercial facilities intend to put the most emphasis on "instructional methods/programs" for their training staff. Public facilities also intend to emphasize planning and designing sports events and the theory underlying exercise regimens and training within their programs while commercial facilities intend to stress customer relations and etiquette as well as the study of health and anatomy in their programs.

Looking at the sports programs provided by sports facilities it can be inferred that commercial facilities offer a wider choice of programs than public facilities. On the other hand, public facilities mainly offer their facilities for "activities organized by the users themselves" and "athletic meet- or event-related programs." Commercial facilities put most of their emphasis on "guided programs adjusted according to the age or physical strength of users."

Among both public and private facilities surveyed in the Facility Service Survey approximately 60% held some kind of sports classes. Public facilities, in comparison to commercial ones, offer fewer classes per year. As to the cost of attending classes, public facilities charge about one-fifth the amount of commercial ones.

(See Table 2)

Table 2 Situation of Holding Sports Classes

In the case of snorts events, a larger percentage of commercial sports facilities are holding events. However when looking at the number of events per facility, public facilities held more than twice as many events, with a total average attendance of around 8 times that of commercial facilities. Furthermore, comparing the annual number of events per facility and other indicators, it can be said that commercial facilities put more emphasis on holding sports classes while public facilities put more weight on holding sports events. Looking at participants' cost per event shows that public facilities tend to charge participants less. In fact, 56.3% of all events hosted by public facilities were free for participants.

(See Table 3)

Table 3 Situation of Holding Sports Events

When queried about their present concerns in managing sports facilities, respondents at public facilities answered "upgrading facilities and equipment" as their main concerns. The main concern of the commercial sector was "placement of high quality training staff"

(See Chart 3)

Chart 3 Present Concerns of Managers of Sports Facilities

Judging from these results, it was clearly shown that for public facilities, the principal style of management is to allow users to utilize facilities on their own, whereas commercial facilities put emphasis on providing instructional service to users. At commercial facilities there appears to be significant demand for local and national government support towards enriching the system for training and development of sports training staff and for acquiring low-interest public loans.

Nowadays, as the majority of the public enjoys sports activities and as their goals and needs for sports become diversified and sophisticated, it is an even more urgent task to train and secure high quality sports leaders. National and local governments and sports associations are continuing their efforts to train sports leaders and improve their quality.

At the municipal level, the social education director in charge of sports, physical education advisors and other staff at the municipal board of education engage in planning and designing policy for promoting sports-for-all with the cooperation of staff members of public sports facilities and sports leaders from commercial and other facilities as well. In order to enhance the quality of leadership for these sports leaders, various training activities, i.e., leadership courses for instructing outdoor activities, leadership courses for various sports and other training programs are being carried out at the national and prefectural level.

In January of 1987 the Ministry established "Regulations for Accreditation of Qualification Examination Programs for Social Physical Education Leaders." Through these regulations a system was created whereby the Minister accredits those training and qualification programs conducted by sports associations which come up to a certain standard and which should be encouraged in order to raise the quality of sports leaders.

As of April of 1992, the following training and qualification programs were being accredited 1) programs for community sports leaders/coaches (26 different sports) 2) programs for leaders/coaches in competitive sports (for raising competition levels in 27 different sports) 3) programs for training staff at commercial sports facilities (4 different sports) (1-3 refer to leaders in various sports) 4) "sports programmers" (a sports leader who produces programs and provides advice and practical sports guidance for a range of persons of differing ages and degrees of physical strength).

Sports associations conduct these programs, carry out examinations, and award qualifications to those candidates who score above a certain level. The contents of these courses and examinations are wide ranging and include, among other subjects, introduction to social-physical education, sports medicine, sports physiology, sports psychology and theory of leadership. Also included are basic theory and training skills for related sports as well as practical teaching/coaching. Furthermore, it is possible to gain exemption from the above mentioned qualification courses and exams by taking courses at physical education colleges and universities. As of August 1992 the number of leaders trained under this system had reached 37,399. Furthermore, since August 1992 accreditation has also been given to certain training programs for recreation leaders and sports leaders who provide children with the proper sports guidance.

In the future, with the diversifying needs of the public for sports, accreditation for training and securing leaders and coaches in new types of sports and sports related fields will be carried out. In addition, special training colleges specializing in social physical education and other institutions will be expected to cooperate in qualifying these new sports leaders.

It is hoped that through this system, future sports leaders and coaches will be appropriately placed in sports facilities related to their training. It is also hoped that these kinds of qualification activities will be a basic requirement for organizers of sports events and snort meets. Moreover, it is expected that a system will take root which can properly evaluate qualified grantees from these sports programs. Thus, it is important to determine a practical policy to effectively make use of sports leaders trained under this system.

As was mentioned in Section 2 regarding the improvement of sports facilities, in order to promote "sports-for-all" it is important to take the user's perspective and create a variety of comfortable and convenient sports facilities with easy access for citizens. In addition, it has become an important task to create a network among those facilities, forming a cooperative linking system. Towards this purpose the Ministry is promoting the opening of school facilities to the public and subsidizing lighting facilities and clubhouses. The Ministry is also making efforts through the designation of "sports activity promotion communities" and other projects, towards upgrading sports facilities convenient to local citizens and establishing a cooperative linked system of sports facilities.

Since sport is an activity based on individual preference, in order to better promote sports-for-all it has become important to provide a wide variety of activities to meet the diversified needs of the public.

As the local government body which is closest to the people, municipalities play an important part by directly providing the actual places and grounds for "sports-for-all" activities to local residents as well as by carrying out a variety of activities and events such as sports and recreational meets, physical strength and abilities testing, sports classes, etc. In order to encourage the municipalities in their projects for enrichment of "sports-for-all", the Ministry is conducting "sports-for-all promotion projects" as a type of support activity for municipalities. Support is being given to a variety of sports activities with consideration for age, sex and other factors so that children, the elderly, families, housewives, working youth and other members of the community can enjoy sports throughout their lives. The actual support activities include 1) promotion and development of a range of sports activities according to age and other special characteristics of the population 2) exchange activities such as international exchange programs for "sports-for-all" activities and sports exchange programs in depopulated communities 3) activities for assisting the development of organizing sports clubs at the community level and 4) activities related to the spread and promotion of sports related consultation activities, i.e., medical check-ups, physical strength testing, sports testing, etc.

Furthermore, in a new development, since 1992 the Ministry has designated "sports activity promotion communities," which are carrying out pilot studies on the prospects of school-community cooperation in sports activities and on the prospects for cooperation among snorts facilities in the community.

Municipalities have also developed a variety of unique and original "sports-for-all" activities that match their environment or resources. The following examples illustrate some of these efforts:

In the town of Sobetsu in Hokkaido good use was made of the natural surroundings in creating a sports event; organized snowball fights. Rules were created for the sports and the "International Snowball Fight" has now become a city promotional event. Also, in order to meet the diverse needs of citizens, two other programs built around special themes have been opened; the first is an aerobics advice clinic called "Aerobics just for fun" sponsored by the Musashino city gymnasium in Tokyo and the other a swimming class with the theme of "toughen up through swimming -- prevent asthma attacks" sponsored by Nerima Ward in Tokyo.

For the further promotion of "sports-for-all" an important task is the creation of a user-friendly and efficient system for accessing necessary information about sports facilities, coaches/leaders and events. In Fukuoka city (Fukuoka Prefecture) a local branch of "CAPTAIN" (a joint public and privately funded information and database service corporation) was established. By using the CAPTAIN's convenient computerized system, users can access the main system from terminals in their homes or on street corners in the city and make applications and reservations for the use of tennis courts, baseball fields and other city sports facilities through a lottery style procedure. It is even possible to make payments through the "CAPTAIN" system.

With a view toward promoting sports activities prefecture-wide, prefectures are carrying out basic and wide-ranging activities such as prefectural sports events. Meets and the training and securing of sports leaders. The Ministry is conducting financial support programs for prefectures such as the "sports programmer training program" and "sports leaders bank program" through which it underwrites a part of the cost for training programs for sports leaders and coaches and for compiling and distributing lists of leaders and coaches to various sports facilities in the prefectures. In addition the Ministry also supports training activities to raise the quality of sports leaders and coaches as well as for dispatching social-physical education leaders from prefectural boards of education to municipal boards of education in order to strengthen the social-physical education system.

Because school physical education facilities make up over half of the nation's total sports facilities, the effective use of these convenient facilities by local citizens for sports activities is important for the promotion of sports. For this reason, in addition to easing the opening of school physical education facilities to the public the Ministry has been taking measures to financially assist municipal boards of education in the opening of school physical education facilities to the public, providing lighted facilities for night use, upgrading sports club houses and for other activities as well. Also, following the third report on educational reform from the National Council on Educational Reform, the Ministry re-issued instructions to schools urging them to open more facilities to the public in May 1987. The results of these efforts are reflected in the following increases in percentage of public elementary, lower and upper secondary school facilities open to the public. As of 1989, around 80% of gymnasiums, approximately 80% of sports grounds and around 40% of pools were open to the public. Positive efforts to meet the needs of local citizens are also being made by national universities through the opening of their physical education facilities and through offering sports related open lectures.

The National Festival of Sports and Recreation is a national event where a broad range of young and old sports lovers can deepen exchanges and enjoy sports and recreations in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Since the 1st Festival held in Yamanashi Prefecture in 1988 the event has become a familiar one that has taken root.

The 4th Festival in 1991, held in Kumamoto Prefecture, began with a delightful opening ceremony which appropriately reflected the region's folk arts and dances. The festival offered a wide range of separate sports events in which people could freely participate, the focus of most of these events being new and unique types of sports. Festival goers were also given the opportunitv to try out a variety of new kinds of sports at a "new sports plaza," to visit a health clinic and to attend a symposium entitled, "From Sports for Everyone to a Sport Just Right for Me." The Kumamoto festival boasted an attendance of 200,000 persons ranging from children to the elderly. The 5th Festival is to be held in Shimane Prefecture over a 4 day period in October 1992.

For the successful promotion of "sports-for-all", cooperation among a broad range of related organizations and individuals including sports associations, local governments, the industrial sector, researchers, etc., is essential. In order to foster such cooperation, the Ministry has annually held a "Sports-for-All Convention" since 1989, in which related representatives from various levels of the public and private sectors can come together to exchange opinions and discuss various issues for the promotion of "sports-for-all" under the umbrella theme of "People, Sports and the Future."

Among other promotional activities carried out at the national level are a state event for lifelong sports called Health-Sports Day, training courses and lectures for sports leaders and coaches. The Minister of Education, Science and Culture also awards sports related individuals and associations who have contributed to the wholesome development and promotion of sports at the regional level and over a range of occupations, and awards physical education advisors at municipal boards of education who have made significant achievements in regional sports promotion. Through these and other related activities, the Ministry is making efforts to encourage regional sports promotion.

In Japan, sports associations play a major role in promotion of sports. As in the past, the Japan Amateur Sports Association, central athletic associations for respective sports and other sports promoting associations have furthered activities such as: establishing rules for competition, holding national events, leadership training, club development, leadership promotion, survey research, etc.

In recent years, along with the diversification in sports, both the type and character of organizations have become diverse. In addition to associations for new types of sports such as ground golf, indiaka and others, there are now associations for ski and tennis instructors, youth sports promotion associations (such as those for youth marine sports), sponsoring agencies which help to support sports activities of sports associations or local governments, the Sports Safety Association which provides insurance or compensation in case of sports related accidents and others. Sports associations, as the above examples show, have diversified in their character and in the types of activities they are pursuing. Through their various activities they are playing a vital role in promoting sports in Japan.

The Ministry intends to further promote the development of various kinds of sports associations which are dealing with the diversified demands of the public for lifelong sports through financial support from the Sports Promotion Fund for national level competitive sports events and other measures. The Ministry will also promote cooperation among sports associations through organizing consultative meetings thus stimulating their activities while respecting their autonomy.

By definition, sports clubs are gatherings of sports aficionados, they are managed autonomously and voluntarily and they help to cope with meeting the public's demand for sports. Encouraging the development of sports clubs is yet another means of meeting the public demand for sports and furthering the promotion of "sports-for-all".

For example, Kagoshima City Gymnasium in Kagoshima Prefecture offers sports courses as a means of promoting sports and improving physical strength among local citizens. The City is promoting the development of independent clubs organized by the graduates of these courses, i.e. those clubs that are approved and registered are given preferential treatment by the City in the use of sports facilities and in participation in city sponsored events. Also graduates of these sports courses are appointed as leaders of sports courses, accelerating the further development of sports clubs.

On the other hand, the picture is somewhat different for the nation as a whole. According to the "Physical Strength and Sports Survey" administered by the Prime Minister's Office, since 1983 the percentage of the working adult population who join sports clubs has remained virtually unchanged.

In response to this situation the Ministry has begun a "Program to develop associations of local sports clubs" i.e. aid to municipalities for sending sports leaders to sports clubs and a "Program for developing children's sports clubs" through which children can enjoy planned and continuous sports activities during a very important growth period in their lives. With the expectation that sports clubs will be a force in helping to develop regular participation in sports activities and become a base for promoting "sports-for-all", the Ministry is working towards their promotion and development by promoting inter-club cooperation.

With the approach of the 21st Century, there is a need for increased cooperation from the private sector in order to further promote sports. Althounh presently many corporations are supporting various sports activities such as contributing to the hosting of events and other activities, a further increase in positive support of sports by private corporations is hoped for.

In order to get a clearer view of the state of corporations' support for sports, a survey entitled, "Survey on Corporation's Support for Sports" was carried out by the Ministry. The survey was administered to 2,054 listed corporations and 57 major unlisted corporations for a total of 2,111 corporations. The response rate was 36.7%. According to the results

(See Chart 4)

approximately half of the corporations were carrying out some kind of support for sports activities. As to the type of support, "athletic event, training course and classes" received the most support (73%) followed by "general donations to sports related associations" (18%) and "opening sports facilities to the public" (6.5%). As to the reasons for corporate support for sports, in the case of sponsoring athletic meets "long term corporate image promotion" was the most often given response. In the case of general donations given to sports related associations it was "as a corporate activity which contributes to society" and for opening sports facilities to the public it was "cooperation with the local community."

Chart 4 Present Corporations' Support for Sports

Moreover, when corporations were asked what kinds of problems arose in supporting activities "lack of funds for carrying out support activities" and "unclear of the corporate-side merits in supporting sports activities" were the responses given.

The Ministry, in considering these results and the situations of sports association activities is making efforts to improve the present system so that corporations can give effective, wide-spread and long term support to sports.