If all students could easily exercise and play sports on campus, wouldn't their campus life be more fulfilling? Depending on the university in Japan, there are limited places and opportunities for students to do sports unless you belong to an athletic club. So, let’s open gym franchise on campus, students’ campus life might become a little more fun.
According to the Japan Sports Agency (2024), the percentage of people over the age of 20 who participate in sports at least once a week is 52.0%. According to a survey of university students, 77% of university students like to exercise, but 57% actually exercise. Contrary to their high health consciousness, there are not all students who actually engage in exercise. When asked about the reason for not being able to exercise, an overwhelming majority of respondents said "I don't have time" (Gakusei Kyosan, 2022)
Opportunities to play sports at university in Japan can be broadly divided into three types: (1) taking sports/physical education-related classes, (2) belonging to athletic clubs, and (3) using sports facilities open to students.
First, regarding "taking classes related to sports/physical education," the 2022 survey (National University Athletic Union, 2024). found that 27.2% of universities among national, public and private universities are offered as requirement class in all majors, which is a decrease from the previous survey in 2019.
Next, the percentage of people belonging to clubs was 60% in a 2013 survey. In the 2022 survey (National University Athletic Union, 2024), it also shows that the amount of time students spend on campus has decreased due to the introduction of online classes, students are attending school less days in a week and spending less time on campus than before the coronavirus pandemic.
Finally, regarding the use of university athletic facilities, although there are not many statistics on the usage rate of university athletic facilities, it is generally assumed that students will use them for classes and athletic clubs. Tokai University and Kanagawa University have facilities that is available for students and faculty members for a fee, but there may be few universities that have such extensive facilities. In other words, there are currently only a limited number of on-campus athletic facilities that can be easily used by the approximately 40% of students who do not belong to the clubs mentioned above.
As university management in Japan becomes more difficult as the 18-year-old population declines, renovating athletic facilities may not necessarily be a high priority in university management. If so, perhaps there is a way to use an outside company. For example, ChocoZap opened its first in-house store (Nikkei Inc, 2024). Some companies may be able to collaborate with universities based on the common philosophy of making people healthy and creating vitality in society (chocoZAP, 2024).
The educational significance of extracurricular sports activities and the importance of support from universities have been pointed out by the former Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges (Ministry of Education 2000, the Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges 2007). Japanese Association of University Physical Education and Sports states that the diversification of students due to the universalization of university education has also led to a diversification of extracurricular sports activities, and that the form of support for such activities is not uniform and needs to be provided according to the situation. (Japanese Association of University Physical Education and Sports, 2024). How about introducing sports activities that can be easily used by anyone into university education and campus life, which are becoming more international and diverse?
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