1) WHAT IS THE JOA?

2) GREETING FROM THE PRESIDENT

3) OUR ACTIVITIES

5) THE JOA'S STRUCTURE

6) CONTACT

1) WHAT IS THE JOA?
The Japan Olympic Academy was founded in 1978 and it is one of the oldest Olympic Academies in the Asian Region.

The Japan Olympic Academy is an independent organisation, headed by Chiharu Igaya, an IOC member. The JOA is not a part of the National Olympic Committee of Japan, but the two organizations working closely with each other.

The JOA is supported financially by the annual membership fees paid by its members as well as donations from various bodies including the MIZUNO Sports Foundation. The JOA receives no funding from the NOC of Japan and is a completely financially independent body.

The aim of the JOA is to embody and implement the ideals of the Olympism in Japan, which are described as Fundamental Principles in the Olympic Charter. To achieve this final aim, the JOA contributes to provide Olympic Education to all people, not only those working in the sports field but persons in every corner of society, especially the younger generations. The JOA also contributes to assist study on Olympism, including the study of the Olympic History and Olympic Charter.

2) GREETING FROM THE PRESIDENT

I would like to welcome you to the Homepage of the Japan Olympic Academy.
National Olympic Academies (NOAs) have been established in 99 countries and territories and they are active in the study of Olympism, Olympic education and promotion of Olympism. The International Olympic Academy (IOA), located in Greece, leads this movement and is the hub of the NOAs.

The IOA is regarded as one of the most important parts of the educational and cultural aspects of the IOC and works closely with the Commission for Culture and Olympic Education of the IOC.

The Japan Olympic Academy was founded in 1978, making it the third oldest Olympic Academy in the world after Spain and Turkey. Our activities encompass the recommendations of participants for the IOA Sessions, organizing National Sessions, publishing the "JOA Times" and other various matters concerning culture and education.

On this Homepage, we would like to introduce the scope of our activities to promote the principles of Olympism and the Olympic Movement. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Chiharu Igaya
President
JOA

3) OUR ACTIVITIES
The JOA's activities, according to its code of practice, encompass in the following areas:

a) JOA members participate actively in all sessions organized by the International Olympic Academy in Greece. The JOA assists in the preparation of participants to the IOA's various sessions and seminars in Greece.

b) To study the value of sports from the broadest points of views including educational, sociological and medical perspectives.

c) To exchange the views and opinions as well as the people, with IOA and NOAs, especially with NOAs in Asia-Pacific Region. JOA is eager to utilize "IT" (Information Technology) such as Home-page on Internet as well as the mailing list among its members in order to exchange views and information on the studies, events and activities concerning the Olympic Movement.

d) To hold its Annual Session with a special theme every year. Apart from the Annual Session, JOA occasionally holds "The Olympic Charter Seminar" and other educational seminars. JOA also assists in the organization and conduct of workshops and conferences in areas like Olympic Education, Fair Play, Sport Management, Sports Medicine.

e) To publish printed or cause to publish material such as the "JOA Times" and "The Olympic Directory".

f) To collaborate with the NOC of Japan concerning Olympic Movement activities.

4) JOA SESSIONS
The major annual event organized by the JOA is the Olympic Academy Session which attracts more than 100 participants. During the Academy's Session, presentations are made by renowned speakers from all over the world, and the discussion is open to the floor to exchange ideas on the issues presented. It should be noted that the sessions of the Academy have been extremely successful, receiving positive comments and feedback from participants and speakers as well. Each session deals with a specific issue under investigation. In 2000, the issue under examination was "The Olympic Movement in the New Century", with three outstanding speakers;

Kostas Georgiadis (Dean of the IOA)
"The role of IOA in the new century"
Susan Crawford (The Sydney 2000 National Olympic Education Programme)
"The value of the Olympic Education in the New Century"
Takafumi Isomura (Mayor of Osaka City)
"Celebration of the Olympic Games and the Local Community"

JOA Session 2001 (24th JOA Session) was held on November 6, 2001.
To view the content click here.

4-a) 2001 JOA Session
"The Olympic Movement and Environment"
- Can sports save the earth? -


a) Key-Note Speaker
Dr. Pal Schmitt
Chairman, IOC Sports and Environment Commission
IOC Member

b) Panel discussion

Panelists
Dr. Pal Schmitt, IOC Member
Dr. Yoshitaka Kondo, Associate Professor, Tsukuba University
Ms. Naoko Sato, Professional Tennis Player
Moderator
Mr. Masato Mizuno
President, Mizuno Corporation, JOA Member

4-a-1) Message from the IOC President
4-a-2) Message from the IOA President
4-a-3) Dr. Pal Schmitt, IOC Member
4-a-4) Dr. Yoshitaka Kondo, Tsukuba University
4-a-5) Ms. Naoko Sato, Professional Tennis Player

4-a-1) Message from the IOC President

On behalf of the Olympic Movement, I wish the participants of the 24th Session of the Japan Olympic Academy a successful meeting.

Your institution is engaged in an activity which is the essence of Olympism: education. Throughout your many years of activity, you have played a vital part in the development of the Olympic Movement and its ideals in Japan. For this I am grateful.

You have chosen a timely and important theme for this Session: The Olympic Movement and the Environment: Can Sport Save the Earth? Coincidentally, the IOC is holding its Fourth World Conference on Sport and the Environment in the beautiful Olympic City of Nagano. The motto of this conference is "Give the Planet a Sporting Chance."

The similarity of our concerns underlines the importance of the great task before us. Indeed, since the adoption of its Agenda 21, the Olympic Movement, recognizing that the human dimension it embodies corresponds to the purpose of Olympism as described in the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Charter, has made efforts to incorporate sustainability into its various policies and activities. These efforts must continue, and your contribution is of utmost importance. Indeed, this is essentially an educational effort.

I thank you for your assistance and work towards achieving these aims and wish you, the Japan Olympic Academy and its President, my colleague and friend Chiharu Igaya, every success in all your undertakings.

Chevalier Dr. Jacques Rogge

4-a-2) Message from the IOA President

Dear Chiharu,

I have just received the programme of the 24th Session of the Japanese Olympic Academy which you were kind enough to send me.

I would like once more to congratulate the Japanese Olympic Academy and commend its efforts towards promoting, very actively, Olympic Education which is thoroughly needed all over the world.

As you have already stated environmental conservation is one among the basic pillars of the Olympic Movement and concerns the whole of mankind. Unfortunately some countries, which I will not mention, do not respect the environmental and do not collaborate in the global efforts to fight against the destruction of our planet.

As President of the International Olympic Academy and Member of the International Olympic Committee, I thoroughly appreciate the initiative you have taken and the choice of my colleague and friend Pal Schmitt as keynote speaker and panelist.

Once again congratulation and warmest wishes for a brilliant outcome of the works of the 24th Session of the Japanese Olympic Academy.
Sincerely,

Nikos FILARETOS

4-a-3)
Key-Note Speaker
Dr. Pal Schmitt
Chairman, IOC Sports and Environment Commission
IOC Member

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Japanese Olympic Academy for their kind invitation. It is my pleasure to give you a lecture on the relation existing between sport and the environment.

I have been asked several times why it is important to talk about environment protection in relation to sport since sport does not belong to those human activities which abuse the environment significantly.

Allow me to provide you with a short historical background to clarify why in addition to sport and the culture environment protection is considered to be the third dimension of the Olympic movement.

At the IOC Congress in Paris in 1994, at the so-called Congress of Unity, a whole session was dedicated to the protection of the environment. This was not the first occasion that the Olympic movement paid attention to this important issue, since at the 1992 World Conference in Rio it had been mentioned that every country and possibly every entity should assume responsibility for the sustainable development and protection of the environment. The appeal called on the participants to prepare their own Agenda 21, the action plan by which they would contribute to the common effort of saving the environment in the 21st century.

Still in that year, during the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, a declaration was signed by the National Olympic Committees of the 167 participating countries, and this document was called the Earth Pledge.

I just mentioned the expression "sustainable development," but I think that this phrase may not be understandable to everyone. It means that we should harvest only the fruit of a tree but we should not cut the tree itself down since by doing so we would curtail the next generation. Or we can say that it is wise to use up, spend the interests of the capital but to leave the original capital itself to future generations ensuring this way sustainable development for them as well.

After the Paris Conference in 1995 the then President of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch decided to establish a commission to attend to this issue. Since then I have been the chairman of the Sport and Environment Commission. I receive a lot of assistance form Mr Masato Mizuno whose enthusiasm and expertise are indispensable and who was of great help to me in organising the Conference in Nagano held 2 days ago.

This commission when started its work found that its first and foremost task was to educate the participants of the Olympic movement to be sensitive to the environment and to assume responsibility for it. One of the most effective means of our educational programme is exemplary behaviour, so the issues which we can influence directly or which are our own, namely the Olympic Games which are organised in a way that they should convey the message of environment protection and that the participants should understand the organisersﾕ commitment to the defence of the environment.

Already in 1994 when our Norwegian friends organised the Lillehammer Games, we noticed some signs of environmental responsibility. But the first Olympics which was consciously environment friendly and coordinated this way throughout the Games by the organising committee was held in Nagano, Japan. The environmental considerations were present during all the steps of the preparation phase and decision making. Sydney was another significant milestone to render the Games greener, consequently we can state that we have seen two exemplary environment friendly Games and I think the organising committees for the future Games in Salt Lake City, Athens, Torino and Beijing put great emphasis on ecological issues.

Nowadays it is not possible for the candidate cities to make a bid without - in the candidature file - including a separate chapter detailing the environmental considerations and a plan showing the environmental legacy to be left after the Games.

Today we can declare that over 100 NOCs have already set up their own environment commissions. There are approximately 20 IFs which are directly involved in environment protection. We have held seminars in Barbados, Samoa, in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, in Dakar in Senegal and in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. A conference in Rome was held with the attendance of all the European NOCs, and world conferences have taken place in Lausanne, Kuwait, Rio de Janeiro and in Nagano. We have prepared a Manual on Sport and Environment, and have compiled various educational publications. The document of the Olympic movement, the Agenda 21, the already mentioned action plan was finalised two years ago in the interest of sustainable development.

At the moment our most important duty is to put this action plan into practice not only at the Olympic Games but at every national and international, small or big sports event. The famous 3 "R"s namely Reuse, Reduce, Recycle have entered the sports movement, too. I hope that we will succeed in making the participants of the sports movement realise and increase their love and responsibility for nature. A manual is being prepared which designates not only general tasks but also concrete ones and takes into account every branch of sport, informs the organisers of the tasks to be done regarding each competition with the objective of avoiding harming the environment irreversibly. This document will be translated into several languages and will be published on the internet.

We can say that a sportsman or sportswoman is the ambassador of the environment protection since in order to achieve outstanding results he or she needs clean air and water, unpolluted soil and nice, pleasant surroundings.

When talking about the environment protection the slogan "Think globally and act locally" is often used. In my opinion the international Olympic movement is in a situation due to its universal character and presence in 210 countries worldwide that it should not only think globally but should also act so.

The tasks of the environment protection are very diverse in every continent or country, this expression has a different meaning in the developing world and in the industrialised one. The rising smoke from the chimneys in Europe can lead to penalty because it pollutes the environment, but in Africa the smoke may mean hope that new businesses will be launched in that underdeveloped area.

One thing is certain: 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with water, 20% is either desert or ice. The Earth's 7 billion people - whose number, according to experts, may rise to 12 billion within 50 years - have to share the remaining 10%. Energy resources are dwindling, drinking water is already a treasure to find, huge forests are disappearing, territories as large as a country are turning into desert. The ozone layer is thinning, the phenomenon of the greenhouse effect that is global warming has emerged. All this sounds threatening, therefore I consider it essential that the Olympic and sports movement take part in the common endeavour to save the environment.

You, Japanese people whose number is growing on the islands, are aware of this danger and should be proud of the fact that the other nations think that the Japanese are characterised by their humility and love for the environment. We can learn a lot from You, that is why our choice fell on Nagano as the premises of our World Conference.

Next year the so called Rio Plus 10 World Conference will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa where the 10 year long conservationist work will be assessed. Hopefully, the IOC will be invited to this conference - I would like to mention here that we signed a cooperation agreement with the UNEP programme - where we can tell the countries of the world proudly that the Olympic and the sports movements with their special means take part in the common effort and wish to contribute to the sustainable development.
Thank you for your attention.

4-a-4)
Thoughtfulness to others: The establishment of the notion of Sustainable Sports
Yoshitaka Kondo
Associate Professor, Tsukuba University
Member of the JOA

The theme, Sports and Environment, is related to two aspects - the natural environment and the human environment. First of all, concerning the natural environment, we are not only adding our artificial hands to nature but also transforming it into an artificial environment too. Good examples are skiing courses and dome stadia. A generation ago, we did not have snow machines and we never tried to flatten the snow surface during the night time. We did not have dome stadia, which consume enormous amount of power and energy. These facts led to increases in the burdens on nature.

American Major League Baseball, at that time, held quite a number of day games. I believe the reason for the shift is based on the transition from an artificial environment to a more natural one, finally to an ecological one in which we can co-exist and compromise with nature itself.

In this new century, we are required to have more "natural sports" than in last century. We should establish a firm ground for "Sustainable Sports" in order to hand over the sports legacy to the coming generations. Under these circumstances, we will not "develop" any more soil into metal and concrete sports complexes and we will be required to transform existing sports facilities into more ecological ones, such as sun-light power generating or utilization of rain as water supplies.

On the other hand, we should abandon the arrogance that sports has the highest value in the cultural activities and try to find a way to co-exist with other activities. We, who are involved in sports, tend not to be fully aware of the noise caused by sports that might be harming other activities. Are we acting with sufficient care to others?

In short, the most important things in achieving "Sustainable Sports" are care and attention to the broader outside world. Once our consideration of others, including the natural and social environment, is regarded as a criterion, then sports will become a role-model capable of contributing to saving the world.

Yoshitaka Kondo
Born in 1953. Degree in Physical Education at Tsukuba University. MA in Physical Education (1977). Associate Professor at Tsukuba University since 1985.

4-a-5)
Athletes and Environment
Naoko Sato
Tennis Player and Olympian

Professional tennis players use various equipment to play such as racquets, balls and so on, and we often replace them before their condition becomes insufficient to win, or sometimes only to catch up the latest models after frequent model changes. Where has all my old equipment gone?
A generation ago racquets were made of wood and the strings were real sheep gut -- fairly natural materials. They went back to the nature after use. On the other hand, I am concerned about then are disposed. We use new balls even for practice, since there is no point in using used balls, which bounce in different ways and are never used in matches. Recently, I have been considering ways to reuse those balls. One application is to stabilize the chairs and tables in classrooms, after being cut and attached to the bottom of the legs. This reduces the squeaking noise when children move their tables and chairs.

When I think about sports and the environment, there are many other aspects, in addition to the equipment, which are destined to harm nature such as the construction of ski and golf courses. This sometimes makes me depressed. However, I cannot seek to stop sports for this reason, since sports is indispensable to modern human life for physical and mental health, socializing and so on. Therefore, it is the time for us to think about a "good balance" to get along with nature.
I would not like to imagine that the earth is filled with incombustible rubbish, but if such a time comes then we will be using wooden racquets and baseball bats, skis, balls, and gloves might be made from recycled plastic bottles.

Naoko Sato
Professional Tennis Player
Finalist, Australian Open Tennis
Participation in Wimbledon for 17 successive years

5) JOA'S STRUCTURE
5-a) President
5-b) Board of Directors
5-c) Council/Commissions

5-a) PRESIDENT
Mr. Chiharu IGAYA

Mr. Igaya is a globally recognized sports figure. He was the silver medalist in the slalom in the Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, and has been an IOC Member since 1982.

IOC
Member of the Executive Board (1987-1991, 1997-),
Member of the Commission for the Preparation of the XII Olympic Congress (1985-1988),
Member (1984-1987) then Chairman (1988) of the Study and Evaluation Commission for the Preparation of the Olympic Winter Games 1994,
Member of the Television Commission (1984-1987),
Member of the Commission for the Olympic Programme, winter (1986 1994),
Member of the Commission for the Olympic Movement (1987-1991, 1997-),
Member of the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville 1992 (1989-1992), Lillehammer 1994 (1989-1994),
Member of the Evaluation Commission for the XIX Olympic Winter Games (1995),
Member of the Evaluation Commission for the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in 2004 (1996).

5-b) Board of Directors

The JOA Board consists of the following persons.

5-c) Council/Commissions
Under the Board of Directors there are a Council and four Commissions within the JOA. They are;

Administrative Council, which deals with all administrative matters of the JOA including financial and membership matters,

Public Relations Commission,
JOA Times Commission,
Olympic Charter Commission and
Olympic Education Commission

6) CONTACT

JAPAN OLYMPIC ACADEMY (JOA)
Address: 2-9-10, Shibuya Shibuya-ku Tokyo 150-0002 Japan
Tel/Fax: +81-3-5477-6691
E-mail: inform@j-olympics.com