【Sri Lanka and Indonesia】JSC-JRFU-Iwate Prefecture-Kamaishi City Collaboration Rugby International Exchange Program
- Time Period
- 5th to 13rd Feb., 2018
- Region
- Galle, Sri Lanka
Jakarta and Plumka Island, Indonesia - Sport/Programme Category
- Rugby
- Implementer
- Japan Sport Council
Japan Rugby Football Union - Co-Implementer
- Iwate Prefecture
Kamaishi City - Number of Individual Beneficiaries
- 319 people
The Japan Sport Council (JSC) and the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) have collaborated with Kamaishi City, Iwate Prefecture, the host city of the Rugby World Cup 2019, to carry out activities that combine sports and disaster prevention as a new initiative in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the areas affected by the Sumatra earthquake.
Many boys and girls who joined the rugby class were taught by a former Japanese national rugby player and shared various values of sports and rugby through playing games using rugby balls. Kamaishi City officials shared the tsunami preparedness, response methods, and disaster prevention education which deepened the ties between the affected areas.
More than 10 years have passed since the Sumatra earthquake, and the lessons learned from the tsunami are withstanding locally. We hope that this initiative will provide an opportunity for children and teachers to reassess the importance of tsunami disaster prevention.
October 2020 (additional note)
Mr. Masatoshi Mukoyama (former representative of Japan Rugby) of the Japan Rugby Football Union, who participated in activities in Indonesia and Sri Lanka two and a half years ago, visited Kamaishi City and interviewed the people dispatched at that time.
Mr. Mukoyama's column on sports and disaster recovery is published in the January-February 2021 issue of Sport Japan (page 46). Please go to the URL below to read the column (Japanese only) .
http://www.sftlegacy.jpnsport.go.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/fdaa3319b91433e2755081f816a42c0c.pdf
See below for the Japanese version.
http://www.sftlegacy.jpnsport.go.jp/wp/jp/20180311-1/
Many boys and girls who joined the rugby class were taught by a former Japanese national rugby player and shared various values of sports and rugby through playing games using rugby balls. Kamaishi City officials shared the tsunami preparedness, response methods, and disaster prevention education which deepened the ties between the affected areas.
More than 10 years have passed since the Sumatra earthquake, and the lessons learned from the tsunami are withstanding locally. We hope that this initiative will provide an opportunity for children and teachers to reassess the importance of tsunami disaster prevention.
October 2020 (additional note)
Mr. Masatoshi Mukoyama (former representative of Japan Rugby) of the Japan Rugby Football Union, who participated in activities in Indonesia and Sri Lanka two and a half years ago, visited Kamaishi City and interviewed the people dispatched at that time.
Mr. Mukoyama's column on sports and disaster recovery is published in the January-February 2021 issue of Sport Japan (page 46). Please go to the URL below to read the column (Japanese only) .
http://www.sftlegacy.jpnsport.go.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/fdaa3319b91433e2755081f816a42c0c.pdf
See below for the Japanese version.
http://www.sftlegacy.jpnsport.go.jp/wp/jp/20180311-1/
Feedback from Local Contacts :
Comments from rugby coach in Galle, Sri Lanka:
The children were able to receive coaching directly from the former Japan national rugby team, which was a valuable experience. This combination of rugby and disaster prevention education is very unique, and the children were serious about rugby and disaster prevention lectures. If you have a chance, I would like you to hold it again.
