Ryuichiro Shirama—Sports and Youth Bureau Director-General at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology—visited Hokkaido College of High Technology and Hokkaido High-Technology Athletics Club in the afternoon of September 12. Mr. Shirama toured the school and facilities and discussed education for sports professionals at professional training colleges as well as curricula used in sports-related departments. Mr. Shirama also toured High Tech AC‘s indoor stadium and listened to coach Hiroyuki Nakamura, who has trained Chisato Fukushima and other world-class athletes, talk about the stadium’s facilities and the training methodologies at the club.

 

The visit came as attention is being focused on future sports-related initiatives for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, such as the Sport Agency to be launched in October. Mr. Shirama visited the school as well as the 3rd Women’s Track and Field Championships which opened on September 13 and was jointly sponsored by the Sapporo Track and Field Association.

 

Faculty members spoke on a number of topics, including how Hokkaido High-Tech AC came into being, how High Tech AC is run at a completely private level, and also about the emphasis being placed on youth training for the Tokyo Olympics.

 

Asked about the lives of athletes after they finish competing professionally, Hokkaido College of Medical Sports Vice Principal Kazuyoshi Funaki discussed a number of issues, such as the increasing number of companies in Hokkaido that accept athletes and the jump-starting of commercial sports events where athletes who compete in winter sports can remain active even after they retire from professional competition. Kazuyoshi Funaki won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal in the ski jump at the Nagano Olympics which thrilled people across Japan.

 

Together with Vice Principal Funaki, Hiroaki Yamakage from the Sports Medicine Department at the Hokkaido College of Medical Sports, who represented Japan at the ISU World Sprint Speed Skating Championships and the Nagano Olympics, spoke about Yuka Seto, who is ranked 3rd in women’s ski jump in Japan and who plans to become a nurse in the future, and proposed that pursuing a professional career while competing professionally should be an important option

 

Following that, Hokkaido College of Medical Sports Director Kiriake used a video to introduce the activities of the Jikei Sports Club, which is managed by Hokkaido College of Medical Sports and brings together approximately 200 children and other members of the community. Director Kiriake reported that the program helps Jikei students develop their coaching skills and independence under the direction of the school’s instructors and coaches and improves their employment rate. Director-General Shirama also added that the program “plays a role in promoting sports in Hokkaido. Training coaches for athletes is good, but educating coaches to provide community training for health and sports is important. But above all, we need to act independently.”

 

Moreover Deputy-Director Shirama also spoke about the need for administrative initiatives to industrialize sports and said that he anticipated that the new Sports Agency would be able to use sports for regional promotion.

 

Afterward the group moved to the Hokkaido High-Tech AC indoor stadium. Director-General Shirama heard from athletes and trainers at Hokkaido High-Tech AC, including Saori Kitakaze, Chisato Fukushima, and Coach Nakamura, who had come back after finishing coaching elementary school students at Sapporo Atsubetsu Park Stadium where the women’s championships were being held. He was able to see the ‘secret weapons’ employed by Coach Nakamura and used by the members of the High-Tech Athletics Club in their practice sessions each day, such as the 130 meter straight track and the training machines developed especially for Coach Nakamura by the manufacturer.

 

Regarding all that the Jikei Group had accomplished from a private base, the Director-General said that “Today was a very good learning experience.”