With six years to go before Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympics, the government has fired the starting pistol on efforts to boost global cooperation in sports.
They include the launch on July 26 of the Tsukuba International Academy for Sport Studies, which aims to become an international center for the development of leadership in the field.
"We will be looking for competent foreign students who are likely to play a leading role in sports administration," said Hisashi Sanada, head of the academy, at the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture. "We'd like them to return (to their countries) after their studies of 'Olympism' and Japanese sports science."