▲The 17th National Sports Recreation Festival held in Fukui

▲Convention on sports-for-all 2004

festival, as part of the sports exchange program for adults between the two countries. In total, 130,000 people participated in the festival during the period, including local people involved in its management.

As the festival went on, participating athletes became more relaxed and performed more dynamically. Confidence spread among the athletes and to the local inhabitants who welcomed them. Thus they expanded the wave of exchange. In one event held during the festival, children from a local kindergarten presented hand-made medals to all the participating teams and this warmhearted gesture made everyone smile, whether winners or losers.

The festival enabled the participants to rediscover the wonder of sports recreational activities. It is expected that after the participants have returned to their local communities, they will make further efforts to enable sports recreational activities to take root in their community, which in turn will contribute to the nationwide growth in lifelong sports activities.

## (2) Conventions on Sports-for-All

In promoting lifelong sports, the national and local governments as well as individual sports recreation organizations are playing important

roles, and it is vital that these stakeholders work in cooperation with each other.

To this end, MEXT has been holding an event called “convention on sports-for-all” since FY 1989, gaining support from organizations like the central supervising sports associations. At the convention, stakeholders from various circles and groups meet together to exchange opinions about the challenges faced in promoting lifelong sports activities, deepen mutual understanding, strengthen the system of mutual cooperation and harmonization, and motivate each other in promoting lifelong sports.

In FY2003, the convention was held at the Sapporo Convention Center in Hokkaido from February 2 and 3, focusing on building a rich environment for sports as the overall theme for the convention. More than 1,000 people participated in the convention from all over the country.

At the beginning of the convention, a keynote speech was given addressing the conditions needed to develop sport as a way of life for people. Also a symposium was held on building a rich environment for sports with the initiative taken by the local inhabitants, in which discussions were held on the role of wide-area sports centers in supporting the nationwide deployment of comprehensive community sports clubs and on examples of approaches taken by comprehensive community sports clubs.

Following the symposium, four study meetings were held on four more specific themes, where issues were discussed, including the future direction of sport, linkage and cooperation between comprehensive community sports clubs and wide-area sports centers, and ways to improve child fitness. Examples were introduced and these examples were discussed enthusiastically, with the audience invited to participate.

## (3) Health Sports Day and National Physical Fitness Campaigns

In order to encourage people to deepen their understanding of and interest in sport, Health Sports Day, which is a national holiday, is the day on which fitness test and other sports events are held and the results of the “Physical Strength and Motor Fitness Survey” are announced.

The Tokyo Olympic Games held in 1964 led to a national movement for the active pursuit of health and fitness in everyday life. Since then, notably every October, which is appointed as a special