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MONTHLY NEWS April 1997 Nagano Schoolchildren Promoting Friendship with Olympic Athletes |
With the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano (map) coming up in February next year, many Olympic-related events are being held in the prefecture.
Fourteen international tournaments, including World Cup events, were held between January and March, 1997, at the race courses and arenas that will be used during the Nagano Games. Over 160,000 spectators attended the competitions. Local enthusiasm is also building through a friendship program involving schoolchildren and athletes who participated in these pre-Olympic tournaments. In February, members of the British bobsleigh team paid a goodwill visits to a Nagano elementary school, where children in traditional happi-coats welcomed them by performing a Japanese dance. In March, Jamaican bobsleigh racers visited a local elementary school where 800 children have been studying about this Caribbean nation since December 1995. The schoolchildren showered the athletes with questions and presents. |
The entire Danish ice hockey team visited another elementary school in Nagano in January. The athletes and officials received necklaces made with origami cranes from the pupils, who also performed traditional folk tunes for the visitors.
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This program is part of the Nagano prefectural government's efforts to promote mutual understanding with foreign countries. Each one of 77 elementary and junior high schools in the prefecture chooses one of the 61 nations and regions taking part in the 1998 Games to learn about its history and customs and to promote friendship with visitors from that country or region.
Photos: (top) A scene from a recent World Cup downhill race held in the village of Hakuba. (Hakuba Village Office) (middle, above) Members of the Danish ice hockey team visit an elementary school in Nagano. (Shinonoinishi Elementary School) 
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