to members, thereby efficiently supporting the overall activities of comprehensive community sports clubs.

Regarding nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs, the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Sports lists the following as specific objectives to be attained by FY2010:

(1) to develop at least one comprehensive community sports club in each municipality throughout the country

(2) to develop at least one sports center covering a wide area in each prefecture

MEXT implemented numerous projects to develop comprehensive community sports clubs and sports centers covering a wide area, including setting up model clubs and centers and organizing capacity-building seminars for club managers, who play a central role in the development of these clubs. As a result of these activities, there are a total of 1,117 comprehensive community sports clubs in 702 municipalities in Japan as of July 2004 (according to a survey conducted by MEXT). Also, MEXT kicked off the “Comprehensive Community Sports Club Development Promotion Program” in FY2004, under which these clubs will be efficiently founded through the network of the Japan Sports Association (JASA). By implementing these measures, MEXT will further facilitate the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs.

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## Activities and Efforts of Comprehensive Community Sports Clubs and Sports Centers Covering a Wide Area (Examples)

## (1) Tsuruoka Shimin Kenko Sports Club (TSKSC) in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture

The 47 $ ^{th} $ National Sports Festival held in Yamagata Prefecture (called “Benibana Kokutai”) in 1992 increased people’s interest in sport and encouraged them to do sports to maintain their health.

This provided a backdrop for the establishment of the Tsuruoka Shimin Kenko Sports Club (TSKSC) in April 1996, the first comprehensive community sports clubs in Yamagata Prefecture.

When the club was initially launched with the support of the administration, it had nearly 1,000 members, but after local people began to manage

▲Tsuruoka Shimin Kenko Sports Club (TSKSC)

the club themselves independent of the administration and raised the membership fees, the number of members decreased by half. Subsequently the management employed assistant staff to improve the club's activities and through repeated trial and error, gained the understanding and cooperation of sports instructors. As a result, the club has now almost 1,000 members again. Based on the concept that "anyone can participate and enjoy sports regardless of age or gender," the TSKSC provides many programs suited to a health sports club, including programs for people with little experience of sport, people who have not done any sport for a long time, people who want to avoid disease related to their lifestyle, and people suffering from problems with hips and knees, and stiff necks. To ensure stability, the club needs to have more members, and to this end, it is making efforts to increase the number of members to 1,500.

## (2) Yatsuo Sports Club, Yatsuo Town, Toyama Prefecture

The board of education in Yatsuo Town surveyed the sports activities conducted by sports-related organizations in the town in February 2002. As a result, it was revealed that (1) only a small percentage of the town's inhabitants engaged in any form of sport, (2) there was a lack of sports instructors; and (3) the numbers of members of sports organizations remained the same or were decreasing. In order to solve these problems, the board of education and sports organizations held a series of discussions and finally determined to establish a comprehensive community sports club based on the following four key objectives: (1) to reform people's ideas about sport; (2) to raise the percentage of people participating in sports; (3) to