Indoor Rowing takes center stage at 2024 Japan Sports Day

Following the success of the virtual rowing experience at Team Japan House during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, many children and parents enjoyed virtual rowing at “Sports Day” in Japan.

Sports Day is a national holiday in Japan established to commemorate the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964, organized by various national sports and government’s entities, including the Japan Sport Council (JSC)

To celebrate Sports Day, the Sports Festival 2024 was held at the Ajinomoto National Training Center, a training facility for top athletes. This event, aimed at elementary and junior high school students and their parents, promoted a healthy lifestyle through familiarity with sports and exercise. Now in its 11th year, the event attracted over 10,000 participants, offering a day of diverse sports experiences at Japan’s premier training facility.

In collaboration with the Japan Rowing Association (JARA) and as part of the international joint research project between JSC and World Rowing, more than 60 pairs of children and their parents (120 participants) experienced indoor rowing, virtual rowing, and para-rowing with 10 Olympians, Paralympians, and top athletes.

“This experience was another great success and was one of the highlights of the festival”, said Takeshi Kukidome, JSC Vice President. “It provided an opportunity for those who are not familiar with rowing to learn and enjoy the sport. It also served as good practice of how top athletes’ knowledge can contribute to life performance. Indoor rowing is already adopted as a sport, and we are now searching ways to develop new events utilizing elements of eSports and gaming. JSC will continue to promote international joint research with World Rowing from the perspective of sports medicine and science, including methods for supporting athletes.”

This event marked another significant milestone in the ongoing partnership between World Rowing and the Japan Sports Council, which has been focused on lifelong health and fitness – integrating traditional sports with modern technology.

About World Rowing
World Rowing is the governing body of the sport of Rowing. It is empowered by its 159-member National Rowing Federations. World Rowing sets the rules and regulations for the practice of the sport in all its forms, including Classic Rowing, Coastal Rowing, and Indoor Rowing. World Rowing oversees sanctioned events and provides advice and expertise for the organization of Rowing regattas. The Federation also works on coaching education and other matters relating to the sport and its development.

About the Japan Sports Council
Established in 2003, the Japan Sports Council is the national agency responsible for the promotion of sports in Japan. The Japan High Performance Sport Centre (HPSC) within the JSC consists of the Japan Institute of Sports Sciences (JISS) and National Training Centres (NTC), and closely works with the Japanese Olympic Committee and Japanese Paralympic Committee.

HPSC is a centre established to contribute to the enhancement of high-performance sports for both Olympic and Paralympic sports at home and abroad by providing research, support, and advanced scientific training environments, based on sports medicine, science, and information possessed by JISS and NTC. We set forth the concept “from High Performance to Life Performance,” as it is important to widely deploy knowledge gained in the area of high performance to society.