The Spanish athletes competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the technical team that accompanies them and the journalists who cover the Olympic event, will receive a training program in Japanese culture and language, thanks to a joint initiative of the Council Superior of Sports (CSD), the Young Sports Foundation (FDJ), and Casa Asia in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, Madrid
The main objective of this course, presented in Madrid on July 5, 2021, is to provide the Spanish delegation attending the Olympic Games, and also the Paralympic Games, with basic notions about Japanese culture and language. The training offers a series of guidelines on how to interact with Japanese society during your stay in that country.
The course, called “Japanese Culture and Japanese Survival: Tokyo 2020 Games”, consists of two training modules that can be accessed through a web platform designed for this purpose.
The first module, taught by the teacher Carlos Rubio, is an introduction to the history, geography, culture and society of Japan, which aims to provide the student with basic information and some recommendations on what should and should not be done in this country.
The second module has been designed in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, Madrid, following the Marugoto method, and has had the participation of the Japanese teacher, Taeko Kojima. In this part, the student will learn to handle basic concepts of the language that will be useful when interacting with Japanese society, such as introducing themselves, ordering food in a restaurant, or making purchases.
All the sessions of the program are asynchronous, with the aim that the student can choose those parts that interest him most, at the moment, with the pace and speed he desires. The program consists of 40 educational videos, audios and tests, with more than 6 hours of training in total, and the contents are presented in audiovisual format.
The Secretary of State for Global Spain, Manuel Muñiz, He highlighted that “athletes are among the four most valued factors of our image, along with the potential as a tourist destination, our gastronomy and the open character of the Spanish people. “You are going to represent Spain and act as ambassadors of our country” and this projection of “external image” has to be “accompanied by measures and tools like this course,” she indicated. "Through sport you represent values such as effort, commitment, teamwork, but also factors such as excellence in sports infrastructure, healthy diet and technology, among others to help you improve."
Javier Parrondo, CEO Casa Asia has valued this initiative since "it is the first time that the Spanish Olympic delegation will have the opportunity to approach the country before its arrival with a training program designed ad hoc with basic and eminently practical notions to function properly during its stay in the Japanese capital.”
In his speech, the general director of Sports of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Albert soler, has thanked the work done by Casa Asia and the Japan Foundation in the implementation of this training program for Spanish sports. “With this joint training initiative we offer our athletes the possibility of learning about and entering into Japanese culture, through an approach to their customs, idiosyncrasies and language. “Sport, once again, becomes a first-level social tool to bring countries and people together, around common values framed in what we call sports diplomacy.”
Biographical profiles-teachers
Carlos Rubio, PhD from the University of California (Berkeley 1979) and professor at the University of Tokyo (1985-1991), is a translator, alone or in collaboration, of more than thirty classic and modern works of Japanese literature, and author of books on the itself (Keys and texts, The myths of Japan, Murakami's Japan). In 2012 he received the Medal of Culture from the Japanese Government and in 2014 the Order of the Rising Sun from the Imperial House of Japan. He regularly collaborates with Casa Asia and the Japan Foundation giving courses and conferences on Japanese society and literature.
Taeko Kojima She graduated from Kyoto University of Education and is a licensed teacher of Japanese as a foreign language, with extensive teaching experience in both Japan and Spain for all levels. She teaches Japanese in an entertaining way with a dynamic, very participatory and effective method based on the Marugoto method (the Japanese language teaching method for foreigners designed by the Japan Foundation) and of which Taeko san is co-author in the Grammar part. . At this time she is one of the teachers with training in this method who has taught the most hours of class, thus accumulating extensive practical experience. She is a Japanese teacher at Casa Asia 2009 since.
Corporate information
El Superior Sports Council, created in 1977, is an autonomous body that directly exercises the powers of the General State Administration in the field of sport.
La Young Sports Foundation It is a private entity and public utility, created in 1996 at the request of the Higher Sports Council. Its mission is to improve the lives of youth, and society in general, through sport, through an action plan articulated in four lines: promotion of physical activity and healthy living habits; promotion of business collaboration to carry out sports projects; the dissemination of Sports and Values actions, and the organization of informative and training actions.
Casa Asia is a public diplomacy body created in 2001 and made up of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, the Generalitat of Catalonia and the City Councils of Barcelona and Madrid. Its objective is to promote knowledge and relations between the societies of Asia, the Pacific and Spain, in the institutional, economic, cultural and educational fields. The institution has its headquarters in Barcelona and has a Center in Madrid.
La Japan Foundation is a public entity, launched by the Japanese government in 1972, whose mission is to promote international cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and other countries in the world.
