[Sea and Japan Project Public Relations Office] “Spo GOMI World Cup 2025 Fukushima STAGE” The male team “Return of SD Jijis”, a family participating, won! The amount of garbage picked up was 10.955kg
Sea and Japan Project Public Relations Office Press release: November 13, 2024 “Spo GOMI World Cup 2025 Fukushima STAGE” The male team “Return of SD Jijies”, which is a family-participating team, wins! The amount of garbage picked up was 10.955kg ~To the All-Japan tournament to decide the Japanese representative~ Japan’s SPOGOMI WORLD CUP 2025 is planned, supervised, and supported by the Nippon Foundation (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Chairman: Yohei Sasagawa), and organized and operated by Social Sports Initiative (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Kenichi Umizuka). Qualifying tournament “Spo GOMI World Cup 2025 Fukushima STAGE” was held on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at Shikura Beach in Iwaki City. A total of 32 teams and 96 people participated, and the returning SD Jiji’s team was chosen to represent Fukushima Prefecture. This team will advance to the “Spo GOMI World Cup 2025 Japan STAGE,” an all-Japan tournament to be held in Tokyo in September 2025 (scheduled), in which teams that have won the qualifying tournaments in 47 prefectures nationwide will participate. After that, we aim to participate in the “Spo GOMI World Cup 2025,” which is scheduled to be held in Japan in the fall of 2025 and will attract representatives from 30 countries around the world (including Japan). Official website: https://nf-spogomiwc.com/
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-ba606ea3c7f0c33160c37640b7c1119e-2048×1371.jpg SPOGOMI is an abbreviation for “Sports x Garbage Picking.” Teams of three people are formed to pick up trash within a designated area within a 60-minute time limit and compete for points given according to the amount and type of trash. It is a sport that originated in Japan. The SPO GOMI World Cup 2025 will promote the international dissemination of SPO GOMI, as well as create an opportunity from Japan for people of all countries and generations to participate in marine litter reduction activities. This project is being carried out as part of the Nippon Foundation’s “Ocean and Japan Project – CHANGE FOR THE BLUE,” with the aim of connecting this to a global movement. ■What is Sports GOMI? https://www.spogomi.or.jp/ Event overview ・Date: Saturday, November 9, 2024 ・Venue: Iwaki City Yokura Beach ・Number of participants: 3 people per team x 32 teams = 96 people ・Planning, support, and supervision: Nippon Foundation – Tournament management and sponsors: Social Sports Initiative, Fukushima Sea and Green Project The winner is “The Return of SD Jijies”! The total amount of trash picked up was 10.955kg! Fukushima STAGE where all 32 teams participated. As a result, “The Return of SD Jijies” won with a total of 10.955 kg of garbage and 1129.2 points, with a difference of 229.2 points over the runner-up team. Good results are expected at the Sports GOMI World Cup 2025 Japan STAGE, which will be held in Tokyo in September 2025 (scheduled).
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-d81043ed2cbac9a962110dcc00dfe63e-2048×1371.jpg
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-ad7162219e01b706c7704cfc62d87415-2048×1371.jpg The total amount of garbage collected at Fukushima STAGE was 41.969kg The venue, Iwaki City’s Shikura Beach, is a popular spot for local surfers, with a roadside station nearby and a large parking lot used for rest by truck drivers, making it more popular than other beaches. It can be said that this beach is crowded with people even when it is not the swimming season. Last year, more than 81 kg of garbage was collected at the same venue, but this year’s collection was about half that, at 41.969 kg. It’s true that there was less trash from the participants than last year! I heard many people saying that. It seems that local volunteer groups and other groups are carrying out cleaning activities on a daily basis. The 3rd place winner, “Canary Three Girls,” is a energetic veteran team with an average age of 77 years old. He said he was walking around the Shikura coast and said, “I know some good spots,” and he won the prize with a difference of over 100 points from 4th place. In addition, the second place high school team, “Rad”, earned 900 points just from cigarette butts. The appeal of Sports GOMI is that anyone can win. Regardless of age, it was a very heart-warming event and served as a place for fellow citizens of Fukushima to interact with each other who want to keep Fukushima’s oceans clean.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-0c4032e163277568a45c2c6c948c09f6-2048×1371.jpg
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-d88547e3d67e80b7740e7307c781603b-2048×1536.jpg Winning team comments “Using the experience we had when we
participated last year, we brought in younger members this year to increase our operational capacity.The team name is the Old Boys (lol).We will do our best to perform well in the national tournament! ” Organization name: Social Sports Initiative General Incorporated Association URL: https://www.spogomi.or.jp/ Activities: Treating trash picking as a sport, and by picking up trash while sweating
competitively, we aim to build a healthy body and make children and adults aware of the recycling habit of not throwing away trash, contributing to the creation of a clean and livable city. Our aim is to contribute to the development of the Japanese sports world by realizing the fusion of sports and the environment and by proposing new appeals of sports.
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-a68b204b5ec9bd7ef12a8a492bc5d726-632×260.png CHANGE FOR THE BLUE As part of the Nippon Foundation’s “Ocean and Japan Project,” the 2018 This is a project that has been underway since November. We will work with stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and the public to create a marine litter reduction model and disseminate it domestically and internationally. https://uminohi.jp/umigomi/ ■About the Nippon Foundation Pain, hope, and future together. Since its establishment in 1962 as the largest foundation in Japan, the Nippon Foundation has Children, people with disabilities, disasters, oceans, humanitarian aid, etc., transcending race and national borders. We are promoting activities in a wide range of fields using grants from boat race sales as a financial source. https://www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/77920/3073/77920-3073-dd1daa2401f94779a0ba9e17dba422ee-289×259.png
