In response to a request from the Palau Judo Federation, the Palau Judo Kids Support Circle and the Indo-Pacific Study Group launched a fundraising campaign in mid-July 2021 to donate 50 children's Judo-gi and 25 Judo-gi for the Palau Police Academy to Palau.
As a result, 30 people donated and 75 Judo-gi were purchased, and with the cooperation of the Japan Ministry of Defense, they are being sent to Palau on the Maritime Self-Defense Force JS Kaga.
The 75 Judo-gi were priced at ¥453,750 instead of the regular price of ¥783,750, a discount of over ¥300,000 from the martial arts equipment manufacturer Kusakura Co., Ltd.
The 75 Judo-gi are being delivered by the JS Kaga, which will visit the Pacific islands for the first time as part of Indo-Pacific Deployment 21 (IPD21), an initiative that aims to further develop the Indo-Pacific region's maritime security, following the inclusion of maritime security on the agenda at the 9th Pacific Island Summit this year and the agreement on concrete cooperation with Pacific Islands Countries. IPD21 is committed to working for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). Maritime security was first included in the agenda at the 8th Island Summit in 2018, following a proposal by the Japan-Pacific Islands Friendship Parliamentary League, chaired by Keiji Furuya, a member of the House of Representatives, and has been promoted by “All Japan" under the Abe administration, thanks to the efforts of Kentaro Sonoura, a member of the House of Representatives and special advisor to the Prime Minister at the time. In the lead up to this year's Island Summit, a group of comrades from the Indo-Pacific Study Group submitted a proposal to the government that emphasized the involvement of the Ministry of Defense, which has paved the way for IPD21.
Judo in Palau was first introduced in July 2003 with the invitation of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) (Shigeyoshi Takano) as a human resource development project of the Palau Ministry of Justice. Later, Police Director Ismael Aguon and Mr. Takano founded the Palau Judo Federation, which started teaching Judo to children in 2011. Dr. Rieko Hayakawa sent children's Judo-gi on a personal level, and the circle of support grew to include a donation of Judo-gi by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress during their visit to Palau in 2015, and later by Dr. Katsuya Takasu. In 2018 Jennifer Anson (now National Security Coordinator for Palau), of the Palau Judo Federation, Shigeyoshi Takano, and Rieko Hayakawa took the lead in organising the Palau Judo Kids Support Circle, which not only provides support for tatami and Judo-gi, but also conducts and support exchange programs.
The Indo-Pacific Study Group, which took part in this fundraising campaign, is also a loose study circle set up in 2018 to study the Abe administration's FOIP more widely, but it has made policy recommendations to the government and has cooperated with research organisations such as Chatham House in the UK.
September 1, 2021, 13:00 (Japan time)
Palau Judo Kids Support Circle
Indo-Pacific Study Group
<Contact details
Secretary General of Palau Judo Kids Support Circle
Secretary General, Indo-Pacific Study Group
Dr. Rieko Hayakawa
TW account @riekohayakawa
