Apart from the life-enriching and fulfilling role of sport, it is also part of man's common culture in that it responds to an inherent human physical and mental desire. Sport as a cultural phenomenon affecting both man's physical and mental aspects is essential for the development of a happy and vigorous society and for the attainment of the individual's psychosomatic health. It is therefore of the greatest significance that people should engage in sports throughout their lives.

 In this sense, sport, as well as being a way of responding to the inherent desire in humans to move their bodies, also endows the person engaging in it with a sense of reinvigoration and achievement and the mental fulfillment, pleasure and joy of solidarity and team spirit. It also contributes to the maintenance and improvement of health in both the mental and physical sense in that it fosters stamina and physical strength, relieves mental stress, and helps to prevent the habitual lifestyle diseases. Amidst the rapid aging of society and the increasing ease and convenience of our present-day lifestyle, the 21st century will offer fewer opportunities to engage in physical movement. This underscore to importance for people in 21st century society to lead a fulfilled "sports life" that lets us enjoy sports throughout our lives.

 Sport also has the significance of an activity pursuing the ultimate limits of our human potential. The tenacity of purpose that epitomizes the athlete engaging in competitive sports is a contributory factor to the development of a vigorous, healthy society in that it enhances the nation's interest in sports and fills the minds and hearts of people with a grand vision and makes a deep emotional impression.

 Sport also has the following social significance, and it is one of the first and foremost duties of the nation and the local public entities to make an even stronger commitment that ever in the past to the creation and expansion of an infrastructure that will give further impetus to the promotion of sport.

1. Sport promotes the physical and mental health of our children and youths. It fosters, in particular, a sense of personal responsibility and self-control and a spirit of fair-play. Through the exchange with friends and leaders, sport also fosters in the young a communication ability and engenders a spiritual fullness and the quality of being mindful and considerate of others. Sport activities also help to relieve the various forms of mental stress children are experiencing due to a variety of factors. Sport is thus a contributory element in a sound education for children and youths in that it provides an opportunity and platform for the mutual acceptance of a pluralism of values.
2. Sport is a means through which the members of local communities can deepen their exchange and thus foster a new sense of cohesion in local communities. The experience of a sense of achievement that crowns the inhabitants' joint efforts toward a common goal and their pride in their region with a feeling of attachment to their locality creates a sense of belonging and identification with the region and fosters dynamic and vigorous communities. It also leads to a re-formation of our regional communities that are currently victim to the problem of an erosion of human relations. Sport is thus a contributory element to the promotion of a new sense of cohesion in our regional communities.
3. The promotion of sport also produces economic spin-off effects in that it helps expand the sports industry and thereby create employment opportunities. Sport thus contributes to the economic development of our country and is apt to make a major contribution to the to maintenance and enhancement of the national health both in mind and body. In this sense, it has the potential of saving medical costs. Sport is thus a contributory element to the national economy.
4. Sport is one element of the world's common cultural heritage. Transcending linguistic barriers and differences of lifestyle habits and customs, sport unites athletes under a common rule to engage in competitive sports and thereby deepen their mutual understanding and awareness of people from all parts of the world. Sport is thus a contributory element in fostering international friendship and goodwill.

 Sport as a cultural phenomenon with this considerable complexity and diversity of meanings is an essential pursuit for people in our present-day society. An active involvement in sports activities by each and all members of the populace is the best assurance of a personal commitment to fostering a healthy and vigorous lifestyle both in the physical and mental sense.

 The way people relate to sport is not only the active pursuit of doing sports oneself. Sport can also be enjoyed watching and supporting the sports activities performed by others. The enjoyment of spectator sports not only serves to promote sport but is also significant in terms of improving the quality of the nation's lifestyle and of providing a more leisurely life. Supporting sports activities by positively promoting sport as a volunteer, for example, can lead to self-development and self-realization. These various forms and ways in which people relate to sport provide an opportunity to achieve a fulfilled lifelong sports life. In view of these meanings of sport, it is therefore import to promote the many ways in which people relate to sport.

2.Objective of the Plan

 The general trend in Japan is for leisure time to increase with a shift in the nation's awareness from a work-centered lifestyle-minded way of life, as the working days per year contract and the five-day school week becomes reality. People in Japan feel an increasing desire to create a spiritually more fulfilling lifestyle by making use of their free time in a manner they themselves think fit.

 Yet, on the other hand, we are witnessing an erosion of human relations and a buildup of mental stress in the wake of progress in the realm of science and technology and the advancing pace of the information technology revolution. As a result, people have fewer opportunities to be physically active in the conduct of their ordinary lives and their physical strength and exercise ability is declining. Thus, there is growing evidence of significant problems affecting the nation's physical and mental health.

 The demographic trends in Japan show a move toward a family with fewer children and an aging society as the average life expectancy of the Japanese continues to increase and the birth rate marks a long-term decline. In 2050, approximately one out of three persons is expected to be a "senior citizen" aged over 65. In this kind of society it will be important for the populace as a whole to lead a healthy, happy and dynamic life. This is of the greatest importance not only for the happiness of the individual but also for the maintenance of strength and vigor for the nation as a whole.

 In the wake of the changes in our social climate we are also witnessing a process by which the purpose and contents of the sports activities pursued by the public are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and diverse. In addition, there are also changing demands placed on the administrative authorities and the related organizations as to the contents of their actions.

 Furthermore, the example of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games has shown that the performance of Japan's leading athletes on the world stage fills the minds and hearts of people with a grand vision and makes a deep emotional impression. While this raises the level of expectation year after year as to the performance of the athletes in future international contests the fact is that Japan's international sports performance shows a relative declining trend.

 Under these conditions, it is clear that in view of the significance and role of sport in our present-day society the national and regional public organizations have a major responsibility in the development of a sports infrastructure that can and will provide an appropriate response to the needs of the public on the basis of an voluntary involvement in sports activities by the members of the public and that can attract individuals to engage in practical sports activities permanently and also provide an impetus that will boost athletic performance. In implementing such sports promoting policies effectively it will be essential to grapple with the problems of promoting sport in a systematic and planned manner from a medium- and long-term perspective, seeing that the measures are periodically evaluated and reviewed and that a new lottery system for sports promotion policies is due to be put into effect.

 Under this Plan, resolute efforts are to be made to promote sport, with the public and private entities concerned as the providers of sport opportunities joining together with the local communities and athletes as the user of sport facilities in an attempt to bring about a happy, vigorous and dynamic society in the 21st century.

3.Major Problems of the Plan

 In view of the "objective" described above, we will present in this Plan the following problem areas as the main issues to be tackled by the sports administration authorities in the future and try to be as specific as possible.

(1) Policies to extend the sports infrastructure in the regions with a view to achieving a lifelong sports society.

(2) Policies aimed at a general upgrading of Japan's international competitive sports performance.

(3) Policies to promote lifelong sport and competitive sports and to foster the association of school education and sport.

 The local public entities are responsible for determining sports promotion plans consistent with the regional realities while making reference to the present plan. Coupled with these plans, the approach must be to promote the various policies for promoting sports in a general and yet resolute manner.

 In the implementation of these policies it will not only be important to cement the cooperation between the national government and the regional public entities but also strengthen the collaborative cohesion among the sports associations. Consideration must also be given to role-sharing between the public and private parties involved and efforts made toward an effective promotion approach, including the active making public of all types of measures or policies to sports associations and to all segments of the public.

4.Nature of the Plan

 In accordance with the Sports Promotion Act, this Plan spells out the fundamental directions intended by the Nation for the future promotion of sports activities from a long-term and comprehensive perspective. At the same time, it serves as a guideline for the regional public entities in making their own independent moves to develop sports promotion plans adapted to local realities. At present, the local public entities are committed to a regional development on the basic concept of achieving dynamic and vigorous local communities with their own unique traits by harnessing the peculiar features of each region and letting them come into their own. As part of this regional development endeavor, the local public entities have a promising potential for coming up with sports promotion measures by exercising creative ingenuity based on their own judgment and responsibility.

 It is hoped that the private sports associations, for their part, will positively endeavor to reinforce their project activities and strengthen the organizational structures to measure up to the role expected of them by heeding the sports promotion directives indicated in this Plan.

5. Plan Implementation

(1) Time Frame for Plan Implementation

 The policy target set for the implementation of this Plan envisages a time frame of roughly ten yeas starting from fiscal 2001 and lays down the policy measures required to achieve this target.

 In the course of implementation of the policy measured based on this Plan efforts will be made as appropriate to assess the level of progress reached, with a total Plan review due to take place after five years.

(2) Securing the Necessary Financial Resources for Advancing the Policies Laid down in this Plan

 For the execution of the policy measures laid down in this Plan it will be important to secure the necessary financial resources for sports promotion. Apart from the government's budget allocations, a Fund for the Promotion of Sport was instituted in the year 1990 to meet the financial resources required for the implementation of those measures which should be pursued by the Nation. Furthermore, a Sport Promotion Lottery System was established in 1998 for the purpose of securing the necessary funds for the promotion of sport through a sports promotion lottery.

 The revenues obtained through the Sports Promotion Lottery are intended for the support of the various projects undertaken to give further impetus to the promotion of sport in Japan and are expected to play a significant role in advancing the policy measures laid down in this Plan, including the development of a regional sports infrastructure that will be conducive to sports activities in the familiar local environment and the creation of a propitious milieu for the raising of athletes capable of participating in competitive sports at the international level.

 To fully secure the necessary funds for promoting the Nation's policies laid down in this Plan efforts will be made also in the future to secure the necessary budget allocations for sports promotion by giving due consideration to the fiscal situation. In particular, the greatest possible efforts will be made to secure stable revenues from the Sports Promotion Lottery.

 In the allocation of the various financial resources referred to above, efforts will be made to ensure the effective utilization of these financial resources by clarifying the role each of these different resources should play.