Japan has and is going to be seeing lots of different international large-scale sporting events over the last 1 year and coming 2 years from the rugby world cup in 2019, to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic & Paralympic games and finally the WORLD MASTERS GAMES (WMG) 2021 KANSAI.
The boom of enthusiasm which was shown at last year's Rugby World Cup will surely continue to this year's Tokyo 2020 Olympic & Paralympic games and then further again into the WORLD MASTERS GAMES (WMG) 2021 KANSAI the following year.
On the 18th (Sat) of January last month, the Public Interest Incorporated Foundation of the WORLD MASTERS GAMES (WMG) 2021 KANSAI Organization Committee held a conference in Tokyo, and through various lectures and panel discussions explored the topic, fun, and appeal, of spending one’s entire life involved in sports.
Furthermore, on the same day, a PR supporter exchange meeting was held with previous contestants of the WORLD MASTERS GAMES, not only people from Japan but people who love sports from all different corners of the Earth.
Let’s take a look at what was talked about during the conference and exchange meeting!
WMG - Not only “doing” sports, but promoting sports tourism
WMG2021 KANSAI is a giant sports festival where if you are a lover of sports over the age of 30 you can participate in various sporting events regardless of past experience. From the 14th to the 30th of May 2021 this event will be held in Japan’s Kansai region for the first time in all of Asia. There are a total of 35 events with 59 different variations including sports such as field and track, badminton, basketball, swimming and many more which will be held throughout the areas around the 9 different prefectures of Fukui, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama, Tottori and Toksushima over a 17 day period.
Alongside participating in the events, thanks to the events taking part in different prefectures over the Kansai region, you are also able to do some sightseeing and try out some of the local cuisine. There is even a travel pass prepared and provided with the basic rate of the event making it extremely useful for getting around the entirety of the Kansai area for sightseeing as well as when going to the sporting venues.
There are various people with lots of different backgrounds who participate in the WMG, people who play sports alone, with friends, with their families, with a club, who were a previous top athlete, and people who play on an international team (Such as twin town teams or multinational teams). In this event you can enjoy sports with likeminded people from around the world regardless of your history, experience, or previous event results and participate in multiple events without any preliminary requirements. At the conference panel discussion there were various things that were discussed such as “Increasing the amount of participants and ways to enjoy the event. Inviting people close to you and helping them start sports”, “A chance for anyone to experience a sense of accomplishment” and many more likewise topics were introduced by the panelists. They also talked about the saying “Play Hard, Party Hard” which was in regards to not only participating in the events but also spending some time at the “villages*” having cultural exchanges with your teammates from around the world.
*Village: A Village is a place where participants can have cultural exchanges, there are 3 types of “Villages”. You can see more information on villages here 👉https://wmg2021.jp/en/games/trafficguide.html
Full-force PR from the Event PR supporters - Appealing for participation of WMG2021 KANSAI
At the WMG 2021 Kansai Event, both previous contestants as well as people who have plans to participate in the WMG2021 KANSAI event are working as event PR supporters, undertaking tasks such as event information communication.
After the conference, a meeting was held between the PR supporters with the topic of making WMG2021 KANSAI as successful as possible.
At the start of the meeting, experiences at WMG events thus far were talked about alongside how many people were participating in specific events. The people talking about these topics had just met for the first time and were introducing themselves, but their joint interest in “sports” allowed for a lively exchange of ideas between the members.
One of the PR methods that is being used within the design of the business card is the idea of “Let’s meet at the next WMG and challenge each other again!”. Right now the business card idea has been submitted in Japanese but is planned to be translated to English also. Thanks to this business card there have been lots of new ideas and opinions about how to improve and increase cultural exchanges. The PR supporters are not only working within Japan but in sporting events across the world. You may even meet some of them at large sporting events in your own country!
Registration Start! First-come First-served from the 1st of February 2020
Registration has begun as of the 1st of February 2020. The deadline is decided on an event-by-event basis and places are awarded to the people who register first. Paying the basic rate* will allow you to freely participate in 5 of the 59 events available. One of the appeals of WMG2021 is that you are able to participate in not only 1, but multiple different events.
As soon as the registration window opened there were a lot of entries! WMG2021 KANSAI is a great opportunity to show the results of your training or as a reason to start your sporting adventure. It would be a waste to let this opportunity that only happens 1 every 4 years to slip through your hands! Some events have already full participants. We recommend registering as soon as possible.
Information about events can be found here 👉https://wmg2021.jp/en/games/list
Registration can be found here👉https://wmg2021.jp/en/games/entry.html
Some events don’t start the entry yet.
Check the details here👉https://wmg2021.jp/en/games/pdf/entry-disciplines.pdf
*Depending on the sport/event, there may be additional fees. Furthermore, if you only wish to spectate the event, there is no fee or registration required for entry
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