Rowing in Japan

It might be surprising that the history of Japanese rowing is more than 130 years. The British Royal Navy, presented in Yokohama, held the first regatta in 1869. Japan rowing association (JARA) was established in 1920. Competitive rowing became popular in Japan through several major rowing races organized by JARA and inter-university varsity regattas. Rowing competitions in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games were organized at the Saitama Toda Olympic course. Recently, the 2005 FISA world rowing championship were held in Gifu.