We Are Tomodachi Winter 2018

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21including judo, karate, aikido, and kendo are being held in countries around the world.“The words ‘judo’ and ‘kendo’ both contain the kanji character ‘do,’ meaning ‘way’ in Japanese,” explains Daichi Suzuki, Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency. “Sports in Japan emphasize education, character building, and development of personal discipline. I hope that SFT will help people in other countries experience the kind of Japanese spirit that these sports embody.”In Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFT supported rehabilitation of the Mostar City Sports Center, which completed in 2016. Mostar was one of the front lines of the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995. Now, children from the region’s different ethnic groups are able to enjoy sports together. These activities aim to achieve reconciliation in the region through sports.Suzuki reflects, “Nothing impresses me more than the power that sports have to unite people. As an Olympian, and also through various activities after retiring from competition, I have seen for myself the power of sports to bring people to accept each other even if they did not get along before. I sincerely hope that through SFT, the power of sports will be demonstrated in all corners of the world.”By expanding this “power of sport,” Japan is connecting people throughout the globe to together build a better tomorrow.Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, a former captain of Japan’s national football team, worked to establish the “Mali Most” (Little Bridge) Sports Academy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where children from the region’s different ethnic groups learn sports together.A Japanese NPO provided basketball wheelchairs in Laos in cooperation with the Laos Paralympic Committee and Laos National Rehabilitation Center.©Association for Aid and Relief, JapanInternational Cooperationand Exchange through SportAcademy for Tomorrow’sLeaders in Sport“PLAY TRUE 2020” - to develop sportsintegrity through strengtheningthe global anti-doping activitiesDr. Daichi SuzukiCommissioner of the Japan Sports Agency. Gold medalist in the 100m backstroke at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. Experience abroad as a visiting researcher at Colorado University and a guest coach for Harvard University’s swimming team. Earned a Ph.D. in medicine in 2007. After working as a professor at Juntendo University, a board member of the World Olympians Association, and an executive board member of the Japan Olympic Committee, Suzuki became the first Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency in 2015.The three pillars of Sport for Tomorrow