Students Society - "Tokyo for 2016 Olympics"
A student organization since 2006, which is actively engaged in movements to host the Olympics.
In 2006, voluntary university students started the organization to promote the Olympics, using their status as students. It was the Tokyo governor Ishihara's words on TV that motivated them; "I want Tokyo to host the 2016 Olympic games for the future youth." This student organization has been gathering signatures for the Olympic Bidding and visiting memorable places of the Olympics to make grass-roots movements of the bidding campaign. We interviewed Miss Morisaki and Mr. Otomo, who volunteered for the Olympic bidding.
Students Society - "Tokyo for 2016 Olympics"
They wanted to feel the "power of sports" through Olympics! visiting many cities, from Tokyo to Fukuoka on the Olympic Caravan, for two and a half months. They mainly visited universities, student organizations, and NPO. and travelling 6,089km for 77 days, appealing the new style of Olympics, considering the environment now and the disabled people.
Could you tell us more about the Olympic Caravan?
At the departing ceremony on December 1st, 2007, former Nordic skier, also the gold medalist Kenji Ogiwara came to see us off. During the tour we met many athletes, for example, Haruka Hirota, the Trampoline athlete of Beijing Olympics, Takashi Yamamoto, silver medalist of swimming at the Athens Olympics, Ryuji Yamamoto, baseball player of Hanshin Tigers. We also socialized with over 2000 people from various fields; universities, NPO, lawmakers, etc.
Local papers and radio stations spread our activities so thanks to them, we could send our enthusiasm of the Olympics all over Japan and could also listen to what the local people really think about this. We learned a lot from our Olympic Caravan.
Planning and Publication Manager: Kazuya Otomo (left) and Representative: Yuriya Morisaki (right)
Miss Morisaki, I heard that it was your experience of communicating with foreign people which made you want to join this movement.
My life has greatly changed since my encounter with foreigners during the World Cup. I was in the second year of junior high school at that time. I met a whole bunch of foreigners with face paintings in Odaiba and they all looked very excited, as if there was a festival or something. I just went up to the crowd and spoke to them, using my small vocabulary. They all listened very hard, trying to understand what I was saying and I was very happy about it. It made me feel I was a part of their group and that experience really changed my life after that. I thought, if I join this organization and the Olympics would really be held in Tokyo, Japan, maybe I could make the children have the same experience that I've had. I hope more and more new dreams will come up from the Tokyo Olympics.
Mr. Otomo, what's your impression of working as a member of this students organization?
I have joined various human rights activities and environment events but it wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted to engage myself in some social activities that got to do with my favorite sports. For this Tokyo Olympics Bidding, it is a little different from the past Olympics. There has been a clear proposal for the environmental problems. I think that this is a global problem which each one of us need to take responsible for. If the Olympics would be held in Tokyo 2016, everybody in the whole wide world would be more interested and have more positive feelings towards the environmental problems.
Let's support this bidding movement for the Tokyo Olympics which is directly facing the environmental problems of us human beings.
Students Society - "Tokyo for 2016 Olympics website
They wanted to feel the "power of sports" through Olympics! visiting many cities, from Tokyo to Fukuoka on the Olympic Caravan, for two and a half months. They mainly visited universities, student organizations, and NPO. and travelling 6,089km for 77 days, appealing the new style of Olympics, considering the environment now and the disabled people.
Could you tell us more about the Olympic Caravan?
At the departing ceremony on December 1st, 2007, former Nordic skier, also the gold medalist Kenji Ogiwara came to see us off. During the tour we met many athletes, for example, Haruka Hirota, the Trampoline athlete of Beijing Olympics, Takashi Yamamoto, silver medalist of swimming at the Athens Olympics, Ryuji Yamamoto, baseball player of Hanshin Tigers. We also socialized with over 2000 people from various fields; universities, NPO, lawmakers, etc.
Local papers and radio stations spread our activities so thanks to them, we could send our enthusiasm of the Olympics all over Japan and could also listen to what the local people really think about this. We learned a lot from our Olympic Caravan.
Planning and Publication Manager: Kazuya Otomo (left) and Representative: Yuriya Morisaki (right)
Miss Morisaki, I heard that it was your experience of communicating with foreign people which made you want to join this movement.
My life has greatly changed since my encounter with foreigners during the World Cup. I was in the second year of junior high school at that time. I met a whole bunch of foreigners with face paintings in Odaiba and they all looked very excited, as if there was a festival or something. I just went up to the crowd and spoke to them, using my small vocabulary. They all listened very hard, trying to understand what I was saying and I was very happy about it. It made me feel I was a part of their group and that experience really changed my life after that. I thought, if I join this organization and the Olympics would really be held in Tokyo, Japan, maybe I could make the children have the same experience that I've had. I hope more and more new dreams will come up from the Tokyo Olympics.
Mr. Otomo, what's your impression of working as a member of this students organization?
I have joined various human rights activities and environment events but it wasn't what I really wanted. I wanted to engage myself in some social activities that got to do with my favorite sports. For this Tokyo Olympics Bidding, it is a little different from the past Olympics. There has been a clear proposal for the environmental problems. I think that this is a global problem which each one of us need to take responsible for. If the Olympics would be held in Tokyo 2016, everybody in the whole wide world would be more interested and have more positive feelings towards the environmental problems.
Let's support this bidding movement for the Tokyo Olympics which is directly facing the environmental problems of us human beings.
Students Society - "Tokyo for 2016 Olympics website