Policy Goals:  （1） Achieving a society that is active in sports throughout life by giving everybody the opportunity to engage in sport anywhere, anytime and forever, regardless of physical strength, age, capability, interest and purpose.  （2） The target is to achieve at the earliest possible time a level of engagement in sports whereby one out of every two adults （50%） engages in sports activities at least once a week.

A.Measures Essential for Achieving the Policy Goals

 To bring about a society with a lifelong engagement in sports, a society allowing everybody to take part in sports activities early in the 21^st century, the greatest priority will be given to the planned promotion of a nationwide deployment of Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs which are to provide an opportunity for all members of the public to engage in sports everyday, with the goal of achieving the 50% active sports participation level for adults doing sports at least once a week within the shortest possible time.

• Nationwide Deployment of Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs

1. Achievement Targets

• Creating at least one Comprehensive Community Sports Club in each municipality （city, town, village） nationwide by 2010.
• Creating at least one Sports Center Covering a Wide Area in each prefecture nationwide by 2010.

2. Present Situation and Problems

（The Present Sports Environment and Problems）

 Sport has developed in Japan mainly at schools and in companies. This has therefore led to a different pattern of sports activities that in the European countries where sports activities center around the Community Sports Clubs, with the result that in Japan, there is a tendency for people to have fewer opportunities to enjoy and engage in sports after leaving school. According to estimates based on the Public Opinion Poll on Stamina and Sports conducted by the Prime Minister's Office in 1997, the level of active engagement in sports at a rate of one a week or more often stands an only about 35% in Japan, in marked contrast to the advanced industrialized countries of Europe where the level of active sports involvement is in excess of 50%.

 While at present there are undeniably community sports clubs centering on public sports facilities, sports clubs at the workplace for the welfare of employees, and sports clubs operated on a commercial basis by the private sector the fact remains that the present situation can hardly be described as offering everybody an opportunity to enjoy and engage in sports anywhere, anytime and throughout life regardless of interest and purpose. This is because about 90% of the sports clubs centering on public sports facilities are typically designed for only one particular type of sport and their scope is limited in terms of sex, age and type of sport.

 In order to improve this situation and bring about a lifelong sports society in which every member of the public can enjoy and engage in sports activities throughout life, it will be important to create community sports clubs that allow people with differing interests or hobbies to participate in sports regardless of age and regardless of their level of skill and technique.

（The Necessity of Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs）

 The Comprehensive Community Sports Club is a form of sports club that is run independently by the local community. In Japan, it is considered appropriate to have comprehensive community sports clubs available for all members of the local communities. These clubs center on the school physical education facilities and public sports facilities in the narrow confines of the junior high school district as the closest community zone and may also make use of the private sports facilities. The physical education facilities of the schools, in particular, are the closest to community life and thus offer a great potential for the members of the local public to engage in sports activities. The creation of comprehensive community sports clubs will therefore provide a sports infrastructure that can accommodate the local children when the five-day school week has been instituted completely. Furthermore, these clubs can and will contribute to an uplifting of the esprit de corps of local communities and can help rebuild and activate local communities and foster communication between the generations. The particular features of the comprehensive community sports clubs are as follows.

a. They cater for a diversity of sports.

b. They are available to people of all ages from children to senior citizens and of all levels of skill from beginners to top-level athletes in competitive sports; in other words, they can be used by all members of the local public, regardless of age, interest or hobby and level of skill or technique.

c. Comprising sports facilities for engaging in sports activities and a club house, they provide an opportunity for regular and constant participation in sports activities.

d. They offer sports instructions to cater for individual sports requirements under the guidance of highly qualified instructors.

e. They are run independently by the local communities to ensure the above features.

（Problems Concerning the Comprehensive Community Sports Club）

 Since sports activities in Japan have centered on the schools and companies until the present it has not been possible to create an adequate infrastructure base for sports activities at the community level in terms of sports facilities and instructors. Under these conditions, the recognition that local communities should independently create their own infrastructure for sports activities has not taken root. Nor has the importance of the community sports club as an institution to be run independently in a volunteer spirit been sufficiently recognized yet. Often it can also be found that the significance and importance of the comprehensive community sports club is not sufficiently recognized even among those involved in community sports administration and among the PE Instruction Committee members and sports associations. There is also the problem that even local communities with a growing need for the creation of a comprehensive community sports club find it difficult to recruit the human resources with the enthusiasm and ability to promote the establishment of such a facility in close coordination with the interested parties in the community.

 At present, it can also be seen that efforts are being made by local communities to create comprehensive community sports clubs on the basis of the schools' PE and public sports facilities. These endeavors are spearheaded mainly by the child and youth health education organizations, the PTAs, and youth sports clubs. However, even in these progressive regions, there are examples where clubs have found it difficult to maintain a stable source of revenue from membership fees. In some cases, for example, there is no sufficient awareness of the basic fact that clubs have to maintain themselves commercially viable and meet their operating funds from the membership fees paid by the local public as members of the club. This lack of recognition of commercial necessities is due to the lingering notion of the past that community sports services should be provided free of charge or at a low cost by the local government authorities. This tendency is the more in evidence the more recently the club has been founded.

 Further, the smooth running of a comprehensive community sports club as a business operation requires of qualified experts with management capabilities （club managers）. Yet, in the absence of the necessary know-how accumulation and curricular experience related to the development of such human resources it is difficult at present to secure the necessary staff resources.

 It must also be remembered that comprehensive community sports clubs are not merely places for engaging in sports activities. Another essential part is the club house that must fulfill its potential as a communication platform in the community and serve as a gathering place for exchange among the members of the local public. In most cases, however, the school PE facilities and the public sports facilities that are looked for as a base for the activities of the comprehensive community sports club in Japan do not have a club house. In this sense, these facilities are not satisfactorily provided with the necessary functions to fulfill the role the local public expects them to offer.

（Support by the Sports Center Covering a Wide Area）

 The individual comprehensive community sports clubs are created in accordance with the specific needs of the community they serve, and the permanency and stability of their operation poses a large number of problems as described above. Many of these issues cannot be resolved by the individual comprehensive community sports clubs alone. This leads to the need of a wide-area sports center capable of giving effective support to the establishment, operation and activity of the comprehensive community sports club and to sports activities in general. The Sports Centers Covering a Wide Area need to have the following functions and should be built in each wide-area municipal zone.

a. Support in the establishment and development comprehensive community sports clubs

b. Support in the development of club managers and instructors for the comprehensive community sports clubs.

c. Collating and providing sports information covering a wide-area municipal zone.

d. Holding sports and exchange events covering a wide-area municipal zone.

e. Providing support to the development of top-level athlete in competitive sports covering a wide-area municipal zone.

f. It should provide medical and scientific support to regional sports activities.

3. Deployment of Specific Policy Measures Over the Next Ten Years

 Amidst the ongoing efforts to bring about a lifelong sport society in the 21^st century, the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs constitutes the backbone of the present Plan. In the future, the ultimate goal will be to establish comprehensive community sports clubs in local communities at the level of the junior high school catchments district and to build sports centers covering a wide area in communities at the wide-area municipal （cities, towns and villages） level. Challenging this target, comprehensive community sports clubs are being created by municipalities nationwide and sports centers covering a wide area being built by the nation's prefectures.

1） Important Measures for Dealing with Emergencies

（National Government）

 In order to ensure progress in the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs policies need to be devised for creating the infrastructure for developing comprehensive community sports clubs and for promoting the dissemination of sports activities and developing public awareness with a view to developing the necessary human resources and achieving a lifelong sports society.

a. Creating the infrastructure for the creation of comprehensive community sports clubs

 It will be important to carry out model projects for the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs and sports centers covering a wide area and then to provide information relating to the results obtained from their implementation to all parties concerned throughout Japan.

 It will be necessary to draw up manuals for the smooth establishment and operation of comprehensive community sports clubs and to support the development projects for the comprehensive community sports clubs and wide-area covering sports center in all prefectures by preparing guidelines on the way the wide-area covering sports centers should function.

 In view of the public role the comprehensive community sports club should fulfill in the region in terms of its function of serving as a platform for sports promotion and community communication in the region, efforts should be made to investigate and specify effective support measures for all essential factors and services of the club on the basis of the club's being operated by the membership fee revenue from the local public, that is to say, the supportive services of the club, including the creation of a club house with locker rooms, shower rooms, restaurant and a lounge, projects such as the organization of sports competitions, the creation of the functions of sports centers covering a wide area, and the development of club managers for these centers.

b. Human Resource Development

 In order to develop capable human resources with the ability to coordinate between the various parties concerned in the region and to establish a comprehensive community sports club it will be necessary to organize seminars on advanced precedents and provide information.

 In order to train and develop club managers it will be important to prepare training curricula, hold training courses and provide information.

c. Dissemination and Enhancing Public Awareness with a View to Achieving a Lifelong Sport Society

 With a view to achieving a lifelong sports society in which one out of every two adults engages in sports activities every week, it will be important to launch effective campaigns that will induce people to integrate sport into the fabric of their daily lives as part of their lifestyle culture in accordance with their own interests and stamina.

 It will be essential to disseminate and raise public awareness among the public in general concerning the significance and effect of the comprehensive community sports club in the context of achieving a lifelong sports society.

（The Local Public Entities）

 In order to develop comprehensive community sports clubs, a diverse range of policies should be deployed by the local public entities in a general manner in the local communities, including the independent and positive pursuit of policies for close cooperation with central government and of other unique policies by making reference to the following items.

a. The prefectures and municipalities （cities, towns, and villages） should assign a clear role to the development of comprehensive community sports clubs in their planning when they develop and review their own sports promotion Plans by making reference to the present plan.

b. The prefectures should direct awareness building campaigns concerning the comprehensive community sports club at the members of the local communities and support the development of sports centers covering a wide area and the smooth operation of the comprehensive community sports clubs.

 Except where comprehensive community sports clubs are newly built by the prefectures, the sports centers covering a wide area may conceivably be provided, according to need, by the prefectures designating key facilities that already exist for this purpose.

c. Municipalities should positively promote the development of comprehensive community sports clubs. They should, in particular, develop from amidst their local communities enthusiastic and capable human resources which can and will play a key role in the establishment of the comprehensive community sports clubs. In Japan, it is desirable that comprehensive community sports clubs should be established in each community corresponding to a junior high school catchment district. In the initial development stage, however, it may also be conceivable to develop comprehensive community sports clubs on different scales in accordance with the particular conditions of the regions.

 Efforts will also be required to expand the local public sports facilities that will serve as the activity platform for the comprehensive community sports clubs and to make the PE facilities of the schools available to the general public to encourage their common use with the community. In this event, it may also be conceivable to make use of private sports facilities as one of the facilities available in accordance with the local conditions.

 Further, it will be necessary to promote the creation of club houses. These may be either built new or, alternatively, created by making constructive use extra classrooms in schools or existing public facilities.

d. The prefectures and municipalities should give advice to comprehensive community sports clubs on the acquisition of corporate （foundation） status for non-profit organizations （NPOs） as a way of making a more effective contribution to public activities, including community sports promotion, and in order to ensure greater permanency and transparency of these organizations.

（Sports Associations）

 Sports associations engaging in all kinds of sports services should initiate without delay the following endeavors in order to promote the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs.

a. The various sports associations such as the local National Federations, the Recreational Activities Associations, or the PE Instructors Councils should support the development of the comprehensive community sports clubs by cooperating and collaborating in the dispatch of sports instructors and the operation of their service activities. In this event it is also conceivable that a Sports Youth Club as part of the Athletics Association be established to serve as the parent organization.

b. The existing community sports clubs should make efforts toward an organic amalgamation and their transformation to comprehensive community sports clubs in the future in accordance with the local conditions and the diverse sports needs of the local community.

（The Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs）

 The following efforts will be needed to ensure the smooth and continued operation of the comprehensive community sports club after it has been established.

a. It needs to acquire corporate status as an NPO. By acquiring the status of a corporate entity （juridical person）, the comprehensive community sports club is capable of being an independent organization with rights and obligations. By ensuring transparency in its service activities and accounts it will gain the trust of the local administrative authorities, and this should help create smoother cooperative relations with local government. Transparency as to the nature of this business operations and accounts should also cement the trust and confidence of the local membership fee paying public and thereby contribute to the sustained viability of the club.

b. The comprehensive community sports club must make provisions for all eventualities that may arise in the course of its service operation. This includes accident coverage by taking out insurance against personal injury or damage.

2） Policies Measures to be dealt with in the Medium and Long Term

（National Government）

 Efforts need to be made for the effective promotion of all necessary policy measures concerning the creation of a favorable environment for the development of comprehensive community sports clubs, the development of human resources, and the dissemination of sports awareness and the education of the public with a view to the realization of the lifelong sports society goal, by taking into account the level of progress reached in the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs.

 Efforts will be required to strengthen the cooperative ties between the wide-area covering sports centers of each prefecture by holding National Liaison Conferences of the Sports Centers Covering a Wide Area （tentative name）, and an organization for securing the qualifications of club managers will be instituted through cooperation with the Sports associations.

（The Local Public Entities）

 The prefectures are expected to support the development of comprehensive community sports clubs by organizing liaison conferences of the municipalities within the area in which comprehensive community sports clubs are to be developed. The prefecture are also looked for to promote the creation and operation of sports centers covering a wide area.

 The municipalities （cities, towns and villages） are expected to promote the development of comprehensive community sports clubs and to foster the creation of facilities that are close-at-hand, easy to use and inviting. In this event full consideration must be given to efforts to upgrade the service quality to the local community and the efficiency in the way the club handles its work. It may also be appropriate to delegate the management and operation to the comprehensive community sports club in accordance with local conditions.

（Sports Associations）

 The central sports associations need to institute in cooperation with central government a system for securing the qualifications of the club manager and promote the training of club manager in collaboration with the wide-area sports centers.

 The local sports clubs should equally support the developments of the comprehensive community sports clubs.

（The Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs）

 With the establishment of the club as an NPO it would be desirable for the comprehensive community sports club to consolidate its base as a key organization for the local sports activities. In this context, it may be assigned the management and operation of the sports services and sports facilities of the local public entities.

 Further, in order to extend the user segment joining the comprehensive community sports clubs and raise the level of actual engagement in sports activities it might be advantageous to expand the club's service spectrum to include health-related events, health seminars as well as recreational, cultural and welfare activities in addition to sports activities in accordance with the interest of the local public.

（Local Communities）

 In order to enjoy sports as an integral part of ordinary everyday life and the lifestyle milieu efforts should be made by the local communities to create their own sports environment through an independent initiative and work toward the development of their comprehensive community sports club. Particular efforts are needed to ensure a more positive participation in the comprehensive community sports club by the members of the local public, especially local teaching staff with experience and ability in sports instruction. The local physicians with certified qualifications in sports medicine should also play an active part in the activities of the comprehensive community sports clubs by offering health counseling and consultation to members of the local public and treating sports-related injuries and problems.

（Sports Facilities of higher education establishments such as universities, professional sports associations, and companies and private sports facilities）

 Apart from offering a full spectrum of sports activities for students, the higher education establishments, including the universities, with their abundant sports resources in terms of their facilities and staff should play a constructive role in promoting community sports as a member of the community in which they are located and take part in the development of comprehensive community sports clubs.

 Professional sports associations and companies should also contribute to the local community in which they are active in a form suited to the particular conditions of the region. In this context, they might take part in the development of the comprehensive community sports clubs as a member of the particular community concerned, similarly to the universities. Thus, professional sports organization might, for example, develop a sports club attended by members of the local public and functioning as a sub-organization of a top team.

 Furthermore, private sports facilities might provide a place for the activities of the comprehensive community sports club and thereby make a more effective contribution to community sports activities. This might include the dispatch of sports instructors.

B. Fundamental Measures for Achieving the Policy Targets

 The fundamental measures that are essential for promoting the effective deployment of the comprehensive community sports clubs nationwide must lead to a framework for training and securing sports instructors and for upgrading the sports facilities in accordance with the roles and functions of each of the stakeholders concerned, as well as to the establishment of an accurate regional sports information providing system and a mechanism for reviewing regional sports policy in accordance with the needs of the local communities.

（1） Training and Securing of Sports Instructors

1. Achievement Target

 The goal is to train and secure highly capable and qualified sports instructors in accordance with the needs.

2. Present Situation and Problems

 Amidst the prevailing trend of increasing and diversifying needs for community sports activities there is an increasing demand for highly capable and qualified sports instructors with a high level of skill and technique. In reality, however, there is a quantitative shortage of high-level sports instructors in the facilities used by local communities to engage in sports activities, and in many facilities no instruction is provided for the participants from local communities.

 Information on instructors of nearby sports facilities in the region is kept by the local public entities establishing data banks such as sports leader banks. Since this type of information does not sufficiently penetrate to the local public the problem is not only that the members of the local public do or can not use the above data bank for their own sports activities but also that, in many cases, those who want to act as instructors cannot register as instructors because they are unaware of the existence of such a data bank.

 There is a variety of sports associations, notably the Japan Amateur Sports Association （referred to as Japan Sports Association in the following） providing training for sports instructors under the certification system of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology （MEXT）.

 However, as the system has been in existence for more than ten years it is believed by some to be no longer able to respond to the changed sports needs of the present.

 The role the Gymnastics Instruction Officer who is one of the emergency staff of the municipalities （cities, towns and villages） is expected to play is not only to give actual exercise instructions but also to act as a coordinator between the administrative authorities and the local community. In this context, it is occasionally pointed out that the municipalities do not always appoint a suitable officer for this job.

3. Deployment of Specific Policy Measures over the Next Ten Years

 In an endeavor to create a fuller range of policies for the training of sports instructors with a high level of technique and skill, efforts will be made to secure the instructors that will be required in connection with the expansion of the facilities for sports activities, including the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs and to create an environment conducive for sports instructors to give instructions effectively.

（National Government）

 In order to meet the nation's needs both in quantitative and qualitative terms, a review will be conducted regarding the MESCC Certification System applicable to this service area while giving due consideration to the progress made by the Sports associations such as the Japan Sports Association in examining the sports instructor training system.

（Local Public Entities）

 The prefectures and municipalities should consider policy measures concerning the use of human resources in accordance with the needs of the regional communities with efforts to create a more effective system for training instructors by using highly capable and qualified sports instructors who are graduates of sports universities or qualified instructors with a diploma obtained under the sports instructors training system and assigning them to their Sports Promotion Departments, the wide-area sports centers or the main public sports facilities.

 The municipalities are much expected to upgrade their training provisions by engaging qualified enthusiastic and capable instructors and by giving serious consideration to the appointment of females to fill the position of the Gymnastics Instructor Officers who will be called upon to play a significant role in promoting sports in view of the community needs and who may play a core function in the establishment of the comprehensive community sports clubs in the future.

（Sports Associations）

 In view of the opinion that the "qualification system does not adequately meet present needs" or that "course attendance has been made difficult due to the rigidity of the course subjects and curriculum", the Japan Sports Association should closely cooperate with its member organizations in reviewing the system for the training of sports instructors by including the possibility of creating a unified system encompassing both the regional sports instructors and the instructors for improving competitive ability and make efforts to provide for a greater measure of flexibility in the course subjects and course modalities so as to meet the diverse regional sports needs that vary according to age and the level of technique and skill.

 Furthermore, the sports associations should support a wide range of sports and recreational activities for the elderly in an aging society by holding training sessions for instructors to develop their ability to give suitable sports instructions to the elderly. They should also endeavor to reinforce their cooperation with the Youth Education Associations in order to promote sports and nature activities for children and youths.

 From the viewpoint of supporting the sports activities of the handicapped, the sports associations should closely cooperate with the sports associations of the handicapped, including the Japan Sports Association for the Handicapped to organize training sessions that will provide ordinary sports instructors an opportunity to acquire the skills of giving suitable sports instruction to the handicapped.

（2） Expansion of Sports Facilities

1. Achievement Targets

 The goal will be to secure the appropriate space for sports activities required for the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs.

2. Present Situation and Problems

 While the prefectures and municipalities are developing and looking after the regional public sports facilities there is a strong feeling at present that there is a considerable lack of close-by sports facilities that are easy and inviting to use. Although they are expected to available for the activities of the comprehensive community sports clubs they are in many cases difficult to use for the elderly and handicapped as they are appointed, managed and operated for club use.

 The school sports facilities as the sports facilities within the closest reach of the local communities hold out great promise as premises that may accommodate the comprehensive community sports clubs. The present situation, however, goes only as far as merely opening the school sports facilities for use by the local public. Further efforts will therefore be needed to make them available for common use as sports facilities fit for use by the members of the local public. However, school sports facilities are by nature provided for the principal purpose of being used for educational activities at school and are thus in most cases to adequately equipped to fulfill the functions the local communities expect them to have as a sports facility. Nor do they meet the needs of local communities as facilities that can be used effectively because of their limited availability in terms of the days and hours during which they can be used by the local public and the number of people able to use them.

3. Deployment of Specific Policy Measures over the Next Ten Years

 Efforts should be made to upgrade the schools' sports facilities and the public sports facilities so that they may be fit for the activities of the comprehensive community sports clubs and to achieve a greater measure of flexibility in their management and operations by assigning, for example, the management and operation of these facilities to the comprehensive community sports clubs.

（National Government）

 Support should be given to efforts aimed at upgrading the sports facilities run by the local public entities by allowing for the needs of the comprehensive community sports clubs in order that the members of the local public can enjoy sports as an everyday pursuit.

 Furthermore, efforts should also be made to study outstanding precedents of sports facilities having been managed and operated by comprehensive community sports clubs and to provide or make public such information. Studies should also be carried out on cases in which sports facilities making use of the strength of the private sector have been built, managed and operated through PFI schemes.

（The Local Public Entities）

 The sports facilities of schools and public sports facilities used for the everyday sports activities of the general local public will provide the essential base for effectively promoting the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs.

 The local public entities must therefore be called upon to commit themselves to the upgrading and effective management and operation of these sports facilities by giving full attention to the following issues.

a. The upgrading, management and operation of the public sports facilities should proceed by heeding the needs of the comprehensive community sports clubs and allowing for a barrier-free construction so that the facilities can be enjoyed for sports activities by all members of the local public, including the elderly and the handicapped.

b. The comprehensive community sports clubs should be assigned the task of managing and operating the facilities in accordance with the particular conditions in the communities.

c. Use should be made of PFI schemes as a means of developing new facilities and managing and operating them.

d. Efforts should be made to promote the common use of school sports facilities as a base for the comprehensive community sports clubs.

e. School sports facilities should be built as local community facilities and managed and operated in this manner so that they may serve not only as sports facilities and also to meet the community's needs for lifelong learning and study in various field to the inclusion of recreational, cultural and welfare activities.

f. Efforts should be made to turf exercise grounds in accordance with the particular local circumstances so that they may serve for the maintenance and improvement of both physical and mental health in that they can be enjoyed safely for sports activities at any time by any member of the community from young to old.

g. All spaces capable of being used for sports activities in the region, including the riverside areas, fallow fields, and unoccupied land should be put to effective use for a diversity of sports activities by the local public with the cooperation of the owner and manager of the land

（3） Providing Accurate Sports Information in the Local Community

1. Achievement Targets

 A system for providing sports-related information adapted to the needs of the local communities should be developed.

2. Present Situation and Problems

 It is desirable that an infrastructure be created allowing all members of the public to obtain various information on sports without difficulty so that they can engage in sports activities at their own choice. Although progress is being made, in accordance with local conditions, in creating a system for providing information on the use of sports facilities, on a range of sports projects and events and on highly capable and qualified sports instructors, there are problems in that the places at which such information can be obtained are limited or that the procedures required for obtaining such information are complicated and tedious. This difficulty of obtaining sports-related information experienced by those wanting to engage in sports activities can be seen as one of the factors why people shun personal sports activities or at least why the level of active sports involvement is not growing.

3. Deployment of Specific Policy Measures over the Next Ten Years

 In establishing a system for providing sports-related information it will be necessary to build an information-providing system acting as a base for the enjoyment of sports by the local public and suited to the regional circumstances and to the needs of the regional community.

（National Government）

 Models or precedents of useful individual information providing systems should be offered to the local public entities.

（The Local Public Entities）

 The local public entities should review the way in which information is and should be offered mainly through the printed media, including their PR magazines. They should provide useful information by resorting to various media so that the members of the local communities will not only passively read the information but also be spurred into action by the information and start having an interest or hobby and engaging in sports activities. In this context, efforts are called for to develop a system facilitating the process of getting information for the local public by some simple method, including the presentation of home pages with sports information on the Internet.

（Sports Associations）

 The sports associations should do more than try to disseminate information themselves in a positive manner. They should also coordinate and cooperate with the local public entities to develop a system for providing sports-related information that will encourage the local public to engage in sports activities.

（4） Review of Regional Sports Administration in Accordance with the Needs of Local Communities

1. Achievement Targets

 A shift of emphasis in local sports administration should take place toward supporting personal sports activities by the members of the local communities.

2. Present Situation and Problems

 Apart from providing the infrastructure and facilities for sports, the local sports administration authorities tend to concentrate on single or periodic sports events and on the organization of sports classes. This leads to a fixed patterns of participation and usually does not attract a continuous involvement in sports activities by the local public at large, seeing that, for one thing, the handicapped have difficulty in taking part.

 There is also an inadequate appreciation of the significance and effect of the comprehensive community sports club and even though the comprehensive community sports club may be recognized the public does not become actively involved in the development of the comprehensive community sports club. In many cases the fact is that the administrative authorities do not give adequate support to the personal or independent activities of the local public toward the creation of comprehensive community sports clubs.

3. Deployment of Specific Policy Measures over the Next Ten Years

（National Government and the Local Public Entities）

 The departments responsible for sports promotion in the prefectures and municipalities should mutually cooperate and collaborate toward the nationwide deployments of comprehensive community sports clubs. The relevant sports promotion departments should seek to cooperate and collaborate with the relevant departments in charge of policies contributory to sports activities such as the social welfare, health care and town development departments in order to promote a comprehensive and effective sports administration. Given that the needs for sports are diversifying particularly for the handicapped, the sports promotion departments should make every effort to promote sports administration for the handicapped through close cooperation with the welfare-related departments.

 In order to ensure the effective nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs, the municipalities, that is to say, the cities, towns and villages, will have a particularly major role to play as they are the closest administrative body to the local communities. As a result, the municipalities are called upon to review their sports administration by giving attention to the following issues.

a. The municipalities should establish and revise their sports promotion plans by incorporating plans fir the development of comprehensive community sports clubs.

b. The municipalities should steer clear of a sports administration that only too easily tends to concentrate on events and shift emphasis in their sports policies toward lending support to the sports activities the members of the local public engage in personally of their own volition. To this end, they might conduct regular demand surveys to determine the demands of the local communities for sports administration and assess at appropriate intervals and in an appropriate manner the changing needs of the local communities so as develop the comprehensive community sports clubs accordingly.

c. Efforts should be made to upgrade the standing of the Gymnastics Instruction Officer and make positive use of him as he will be called upon to play an important role as a coordinator between the local community and the administration. This will be important also in the interests of promoting a sports administration that duly reflects the existing local needs.

d. In order to promote the activities of the comprehensive community sports clubs it will be necessary to upgrade the training of instructors and the training facilities and to develop an infrastructure that provides greater opportunities for engaging in sports activities.