Message to Sociologists Around the World
from the Japan Society of Sport Sociology
Japan Society of Sport Sociology
INOUE Shun, KAMEYAMA Yoshiaki, KIKU Koichi, MORIKAWA Sadao,
SAEKI Toshio, SUGIMOTO Atsuo, Lee THOMPSONOn March 11, 2011 a massive earthquake and tsunami struck eastern Japan. A nuclear power
plant in Fukushima Prefecture was damaged, and radioactive materials escaped from the reactor. The
result was a combined catastrophe with both natural and human causes. As of this writing one and ahalf years later, the number of deaths related to this is over 20,000 people. Around 71,000 people
were forced to relocate out of the three prefectures most affected, 61,000 of those from Fukushima
Prefecture alone.
A disaster of this magnitude calls into question many of our assumptions about how our society
does and should function. This includes the role of sport in our society. The sociological study ofsport is a fairly new discipline, both in Japan and in the wider world, but it is a discipline that has
seen rapid growth and is now a robust youth, ready to take on the world. In the following pages wewould like to introduce you to that youth, and how it was affected by the March 11 disaster.
I. The origins of sociological research into sport in JapanThe development of a new intellectual field comes about from new ideas, intellectual inspiration,
or a new epistemology, but such an intellectual endeavor becomes a social reality largely in responseto actual social demands. The dawn of the sociology of sport in Japan also occurred in suchconditions.
1. The background to the birth of a sociology of physical education
After Japan’s defeat in World War II, education in Japan was subject to the occupation policy of
the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces (GHQ). Under the slogan of “democracy and science,”
the goal of education shifted from inculcating loyal subjects of the imperial state to educating people
to be desirable citizens of a democratic society. This meant a 180-degree change of direction for
physical education, which had most strongly reflected the wartime system of cooperation with thewar effort and national unity. Education needed to be reformed in its entirety, from curriculum
content to teaching methods. Specifically, teacher-centered disciplinary instruction in which thestudents merely follow commands and orders in unison became taboo. Military drills and groupcalisthenics were replaced by sports and dance as the main contents of instruction. In addition, theorientation shifted from the state to the students themselves; it was thought that the close connection
between school learning and the life of the children in their local communities should be emphasized.
This great transformation from prewar to postwar physical education led to the development ofsociological research into physical education, the precursor to the sociological study of sport inJapan.

275

2. From research into group learning to studies of active play
The goal of creating “citizens of a democracy” and the teaching method of “self-motivatedlearning,” along with the emphasis on sport in the curriculum, made learning in small groups
necessary, and as a result learning activities became exercises in group democracy. For that reason,group dynamics and other small-group theories were applied to physical education, and muchresearch was conducted into the efficiency of learning, enhancing democratic human relations, andleadership. That then led to research using the playgroup model, which developed into research on
school sports clubs, sports days, and athletic meets.
In addition, interest in the relationship between learning and life gave rise to an awareness of
the importance of understanding the reality of the day-to-day lives of schoolchildren. Research wasaccordingly conducted into the daily lives, active play, and human relations of children in theirfamilies and communities. This research became the linchpin linking learning in the schools with lifein the community, and from there developed into research into sports and recreation in villages andtowns, at the workplace, and in the home. This sociological research into physical education wassalient until the end of the 1950s. Over 100 related papers were presented at the annual conferencesof the Japan Society of Physical Education (established in 1950) during its first ten years.
3. The establishment of the Sociology of Physical Education Section within the Japan Society ofPhysical Education
The educational system was overhauled by the standardization of the curriculum guidelines ofthe Ministry of Education in the 1960s. Sociological research into the school curriculum tapered off,
and interest turned to physical education in the community. The first phase of postwar reconstruction
had been completed, and the economy was growing partly due to a boom in special procurementsfrom the American military during the Korean and Vietnam wars. This was accompanied by a
growing interest in health, leisure, and recreation, and fostering physical education in the community
became a policy issue. Moreover, sporting mega-events such as the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and theannual National Sports Festival, which is held in a different prefecture every year, raised interest inincreasing opportunities for ordinary citizens to engage in sports, not just athletes. In addition, tocounteract the soaring medical costs related to the spread of so-called lifestyle-related diseases anddiseases of affluence, policies that promoted sports in the community were adopted. Against thissocial background, and in response to burgeoning sociological research in the Japan Society ofPhysical Education and several national conferences on the subject, a Sociology of Physical
Education section was established in 1962.
The creation of the Sociology of Physical Education Section within the Japan Society ofPhysical Education meant that sociological research on physical education, which had theretofore
developed more or less spontaneously in relation to physical education policy, now had a place torefine itself academically, and for researchers to liaise and work together. In reality, since its
formation the Sociology of Physical Education Section has performed a vital role by actively
organizing original research activities such as workshops and retreats, and providing the basis forjoint research that enables large-scale studies. In 1972—the tenth year since the section’s
276

founding—the first issue of the journal Sociology of Physical Education was published; ten years
later, in 1982, the title was changed to Sociology of Sport and Physical Education. For 20 years thisjournal was the engine driving sociological research into sport and physical education in Japan.
During this time, through participation in joint research with the International Sociology ofSport Association and participation in its conferences, and also stimulated by the growing
sociological interest in sports which accompanied their rapid development, scholars in Japan began
to feel restricted by the physical education paradigm and considered moving to the next stage.
Interest in the huge social phenomenon of sport was rapidly growing in the field of general sociology
as well, and various sociological discussions of sport began to appear sporadically. The time wasright to establish a society for the sociology of sport in Japan.
II. The Japan Society of Sport Sociology: The First 20 Years
The Japan Society of Sport Sociology (JSSS) was established in 1991. As was seen in theprevious section, until that time the sociological study of sport in Japan was conducted mainly byscholars affiliated with the Society of Physical Education. With the establishment of the new society,many scholars affiliated with the Japan Sociological Society joined, bringing new perspectives andmethods to their research. The new society also promoted exchange between scholars from the fields
of sociology and physical education.
The first conference was held on March 30-31, 1992 at Nara Women’s University. About 20
presentations were given, and a symposium was held on the theme “Sociological Approaches to
Traditional Sports.” Symposia became regular fixtures of the annual conferences. Some of the early
themes were: “Beyond Modern Sport” (1993, Kagawa University); “Issues in Sport and the Body,”
and an open symposium called “Sport Events and Citizen Participation” (1994, Aichi University);“The Merits and Demerits of Media Sport” (1995, Meikai University); and “Theoretical Possibilities
for Sport Sociology” (1996, Miyagi University of Education).
The JSSS had 165 members as of its first executive board meeting in September 1991, but thisnumber had increased to around 300 by the time of the fifth annual conference, a membership that it
maintains to this day. An international symposium entitled “Sport Can Change the World” was heldat the sixth annual conference in March 1997, hosted by Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Thissymposium was a natural result of the Society’s emphasis on internationalization; from its inception
the JSSS has invited keynote speakers and other scholars from overseas to its annual conferences.
The 1997 symposium included 20 scholars, ten from within Japan and another ten fromoverseas, and consisted of four sessions. The session “Sport Culture and the Transformation ofContemporary Society,” discussed the influence of commercialization and globalization on the sport
cultures of Japan, America, Canada, and France. In the session on “Sport and Power,” questions of
power in sport and power structures imprinted on the body were analyzed from the perspectives ofcultural studies and gender theory. The session on “How Sport Can Change Asia: The First
Asian-Hosted World Cup” discussed the changes that the globalization of soccer might bring tointernational relations in Asia, as well as to the daily lives of citizens there. The session on “Sportand the Formation of the Modern Nation State” discussed the role of sports in the formation of the277modern nation states in Korea, England, northern Europe, and Japan. The results of this international
symposium were published in the book Henyō suru gendai shakai to supōtsu (Sport and theTransformation of Contemporary Society), edited by the Japan Society of Sport Sociology (Sekai
Shisōsha: 1998).
Eleven years after the international symposium, JSSS had the opportunity to host the 5th ISSAWorld Congress in Kyoto in 2008, in cooperation with the International Sociology of Sport
Association (ISSA). The World Congress, held at Kyoto University, was attended by 280 participantsfrom 32 countries, who gave 167 oral presentations and 23 poster presentations. The theme of theWorld Congress was “Sport and Society at the Crossroads.” The purpose was to discuss how sport
could contribute to the creation of a prosperous society in this age of increasing globalization.
There were two keynote speeches: “Violence against Women in Sport – Recognizing an
Invisible Crossroad,” and “We, Japanese, Gotta have WA?” In keeping with the Olympic year, an
open symposium was held on the theme “The Olympic Games: Tradition, Globalization, Media,
Power” in which the following presentations were given: “The Olympics in East Asia: The Crucibleof Localism, Nationalism, Regionalism, and Globalism,” “The 1964 Tokyo Olympics and East Asian
Problems: Torch Relay in Okinawa and Tokyo,” “A Catalyst for Korean Modern Transformation and
Globalization: The Significance of the ‘88 Seoul Olympics,” and “Between Dream and Reality:
Competing Narratives of the Beijing Olympics.”
Two additional symposia were held for congress participants: “Sport and the Public Sphere”
and “Transformation of Sports in Asia at the Crossroads: Tradition, Modern, and Postmodern.” In
addition, two workshops were held concerning the body: “Invention and Authenticity in the
Traditional Body Culture of Japan” and “Digital Sport.”
These two international conferences organized by JSSS not only raised awareness within Japan
of worldwide trends in the sociology of sport; they also helped bring the research of scholars inJapan to the attention of the world, and gave young scholars the chance to present their work at aninternational conference.
III. The Japan Society for Sport Sociology Today
As of September 2012 JSSS numbered 379 members, of which 63 were students. Its 22nd
annual conference was held in March 2013. Its journal, Japan Journal of Sport Sociology, expanded
to two issues per year in 2009; Vol. 21 No. 2 was published in September 2013. The society ispresided over by an executive board, and in addition to the editorial board of the journal, also
includes committees for research, international affairs, and public relations.
The 20th annual conference had been scheduled for March 2011 in Tokyo, but two weeks
before the conference was to begin, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. At first the organizers
considered cancelling the conference altogether, but in the aftermath of the earthquake a lot of
publicity was given to the so-called “power of sport” in the lives of the people living in the Tohoku
area, and JSSS realized the need to investigate the potential influence of sport in the face of such an
unprecedented disaster. This led to the decision to postpone the conference for three months and holdit in June.
278

The theme of the rescheduled conference was “Sport in the 21st Century.” Participantsconsidered the manifold problems associated with sport in the twentieth century and how sportsociology can contribute to their solution. The topic of the keynote symposium was “Deconstructing
Sport Sociology: A Sociology of ‘Sport Sociology.’” The main purpose of the symposium was statedas follows: “JSSS is not merely an academic society for the study of sport; the practice of sportsociology should question and challenge the frameworks of knowledge that are the premises ofsociology and modern society.” Ironically, as sport has become more and more prominent in oursociety, this important mission has been forgotten; this symposium sounded the alarm against thetrend toward a perverse academism that can be seen in the sociological establishment, where manyscholars tend to be conservative and devote themselves to building their résumés.
Due to the rapid growth of the mass media in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, spectacle
sports continue to profoundly affect the politics, economics, and cultures of contemporary societies.
“Sport is a microcosm of society,” as the saying goes, and in sport we can discover a plethora ofphenomena ripe for sociological analysis. The younger generation in particular tends to find sport aseemingly glamorous object of research. Some of the many possible approaches include: the politicalmeaning of sporting events in the spatial configuration of cities and regions, sport as a site of genderissues, sport as body technique and the subject of body theory, sport as communication and its
relationship to the media, national and international sport policy, (physical) education and sport, andthe social history of sport. Methodologically speaking, there is the standard hypothesis-testing modelof research, interpretive methods based on fieldwork, monographs, discourse analysis and historicalsociological research using historical materials and literature, phenomenology, cultural studies, andthe list goes on. There are also many themes related to changes in the phenomenon of sport itself: forexample, the dangers that the unending escalation of sport performance poses for athletes, especiallythose at the top level; the decline of company sport teams, which for many years have been amainstay of amateur sport in Japan; the influence of the mass media on popular sports; and apotentially new type of public commons. The role of sport in a simultaneously globalizing andlocalizing world, and the various problems of contemporary sport after the “end of modern sports”
are also being discussed. But on the whole, research interest seems to be oriented toward the cultural
phenomenon of sport in today’s world, and although interest is growing in the groups and classes
that support this culture as well as in questions of power, this interest is still somewhat limited. For
that reason, most research topics are self-contained, relying on existing sociological methodologies,
and not many research topics actually raise sociological issues arising from within sport itself.
From its inception the JSSS has emphasized international exchanges, and has maintained
research exchanges with scholars from Asian countries such as the Republic of Korea (ROK) andChina, and Western countries as well. As has already been mentioned, the results of such exchanges
led to the two international conferences hosted by the JSSS. Furthermore, JSSS has signed an
academic exchange agreement with its counterpart in the ROK, under which the two organizations
regularly invite scholars from the partner country to their respective annual conferences. In addition,
almost without exception scholars from overseas are invited to the annual JSSS conference as
keynote speakers or symposium participants, and their presentations and comments are introduced in279

the journal, deepening the impact of the cultural exchange.
The number of graduate students and young researchers in the field is steadily increasing,reflecting the rising interest in sports. However, since the sociological study of sport is still a young
field, much more still has to be done to increase the quality of the research and to communicate it
effectively to the larger society.
IV. What the Future Holds
The future of JSSS can be contemplated mainly in terms of three aspects: 1) research activities;2) organization and governance; and 3) contributions to local communities, society, and the world.
However, first we must consider the historical and sociological conditions behind the current state ofsport in contemporary society.
The advance and maturation of capitalism in the 20th century, the progress of mechanicalcivilization, the birth and collapse of socialism, and the unification and breakup of nations and states
have caused much unhappiness and created dangerous conditions that threaten the lives and health ofbillions. Under these circumstances, what can sports do to preserve universal human rights andcontribute to world peace? Even ten years into the 21st century, humankind faces unprecedented
global crises. Japan in particular faces an unprecedented, ongoing crisis; for in addition to theimmense damage caused by the severe earthquake and terrible tsunami, people continue to feelthreatened by the invisible fear of radioactive exposure from what could be called the man-madedisaster at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. In times like these, attaining and sustaining
peace, democracy, and human rights is indispensable for the existence and survival of sports.
From this perspective the activities of JSSS will have to be reconsidered in terms of all three ofthe aspects mentioned above. We can say first that research into sport sociology in Japan has todevelop a more critical perspective on understanding the real problems to be solved and to open up
new possibilities of sport studies. As our membership and volume of research continue to grow, wemust exert all possible efforts to muster the strength to resolve the crisis in modern sports. Secondly,
the organization and governance of JSSS may need to be reformed in accordance with this purpose.
The problems that will define the future of JSSS, such as the increasing escalation and extremism ofchampionship sports and the relationship between sport and the media, are diverse andmultidimensional, and are becoming increasingly complex. The JSSS must develop even further toadequately address these problems. And lastly, researchers should be strongly aware of what is atstake in the community in which they live, or in Japan as a whole. Since 3/11 many researchers have
had to ask themselves what sport can do now, in regards to the great earthquake. In the same vein,the concepts of “sport as a culture of peace” and “sport as a culture of nonviolence” are beingbrought into question. In addition, the themes of sport and sustainable development and sport and theenvironment have not been adequately addressed. We need to expand into new fields of research andmethods, with a friendly eye toward sport for people of diverse genders, physical and mental
abilities, and sexual orientations.

280

V. Message to the WorldIn response to the damage caused by the 3/11 disaster, aid workers and volunteers from all overthe country rushed to the stricken areas, and large amounts of relief aid were delivered. There werealso many press reports of the role of sporting activities as a form of relief aid and assistance. In theinitial stages athletes, like everyone else, were mainly engaged in activities related to survival, safety,
and the basic necessities: activities such as rescue, transportation of supplies, and setting up
evacuation centers. For athletes, coaches, and others, it was not a time for engaging in sports.
Later, the demand for sporting activities began to grow. A representative case is participation in
the National High School Baseball Championship, one of the most widely popular sporting events inJapan. Many high schools in the stricken regions had their sporting facilities destroyed, theirequipment washed away in the tsunami, and even some of their players were missing. In response,
people from all over the country collected baseball gear and sent it to the stricken high schools
through a variety of networks. High schools and municipalities that had escaped major damage
offered their facilities to the stricken schools for practice. In this way the three prefectures in Tohoku
were able to successfully hold their respective preliminary tournaments, and each prefecture sent ateam to the national tournament at the fabled Kōshien Stadium. Images of these valiant young men
were displayed prominently in the media, and were a great comfort not only to direct victims of thedisaster, but also to distressed people all over the country. Sports uplifted people suffering from thedisaster, and helped them forget the trauma, if only for a moment. It was as if sports could give
people the strength to recover from the cataclysm. Athletes, as well as musicians and otherentertainers, held charity events and donated the proceeds as emergency aid. However, we need to bea little skeptical of the media’s exaggerated claims for the “power of sport.” Sports by themselves
cannot materially relieve the suffering and sorrow of those who have lost their homes, theircommunities, and their loved ones.
Incidentally, this “combined catastrophe” has given rise to predictions that it may be thecatalyst for major changes in Japanese society, and that the nature of that transformation may
possibly show the world the way toward a “new kind of society.” Here we would like to offer two
observations. The affected communities were virtually destroyed and their local networks need to bereconstructed. This has brought renewed interest in the development of European-stylecomprehensive community sports clubs. Initially conceived as an extension of government policy,
can these clubs bring about the possibility of local renewal? Robert D. PUTNAM believed that whenpeople “individualize” by withdrawing from local networks, the public sphere is undermined andeventually the values of individualism will face a crisis (Putnam, R. D., Bowling Alone: The
Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000). Under these
conditions, sports offer the possibility of creating new networks. In actual fact, it is known that thesekinds of clubs contributed to reconstruction after the recent earthquake by utilizing their networks
for relief activities. Local sports organizations in the disaster areas reportedly resumed their activities
by initially carrying out material and physical support toward reconstruction. Community formationby the club model promises to create possibilities for a “new public sphere” in Japanese society,which is experiencing a decline of mid-range civic organizations, as in America. One could say that281

network-formation in disaster areas is in some ways a kind of social experiment. However, there arealso some problems with this club model of community formation. As Francis HSU wrote, Japanesesociety is based on the “iemoto” system, in which groups are organized hierarchically around astrong leader. Hsu believed the “iemoto” system is incompatible with the club system (Hsu, F. L. K.,
Clan, Cast, and Club: A Comparative Study of Chinese, Hindu, and American Ways of Life. New
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1963). Contemporary Japanese, while no longer entirely comfortablewith traditional concepts of personhood, also still find it difficult to become complete “individuals.”
The search for a new form of community is thus a problem that involves all Japanese, and for thatreason it will continue to attract attention.
Another problem is the media. One of the issues that the recent earthquake brought to light was
the role of the mass media. At the critical moment, the major mass media organizations barely
performed their function of informing the public. Regarding coverage of the accident at the
Fukushima Nuclear Plant in particular, the media giants such as television and newspapers could
only repeat information released by the government. This served only to magnify the general senseof crisis. Furthermore, in the immediate aftermath most sponsors pulled their advertising fromtelevision, and in its place broadcasters repeatedly ran the same bland messages of encouragementfrom the Advertising Council Japan, which were of no help and only increased the feelings ofbetrayal among the people, who yearned to know what was really going on. In contrast, Twitter andother social media provided much detailed information on the conditions in the affected regions.
This is similar to the role played by cell phones in the aftermath of the Kobe Earthquake of 1995.
When we consider the subsequent spread of cell phones, we can anticipate the potential for social
media. In light of these developments, the relationship between sport and the media should probably
also be reconsidered.
It is expected that the Great East Japan Earthquake will force a change of course in various
aspects of Japanese society, not only in sports. In the wake of the disaster, those of us involved in
sport sociology need to look to the future of the relationship between sport and society.
Contact Information:
Japan Society of Sport Sociology: http://jsss.jp/cn23/pg67.html
General Secretary: jsssjimukyoku@gmail.com

282