What is the JAPAN GAMES and National Sports Festival for People with a Disability?
What is the JAPAN GAMES?
The JAPAN GAMES (abbreviated as “Kokusupo”) is one of the largest national sports festivals held annually in Japan. It aims to promote sports among the people while improving those health and fitness, and to contribute to the promotion of local sports and the development local culture.
The Winter Games are held on an inter-prefectural basis, with athletes representing each prefecture competing in the Winter Games and the Main Games by totaling their scores in each event. The first-place winner in the men's and women's competitions receives the Emperor's Cup, and the first-place winner in the women's competition receives the Empress's Cup.
In addition to the “Official Events,” the JAPAN GAMES may hold “Special Events” that are not eligible for scoring points, “Public Events” and “Demonstration Sports” for the purpose of spreading the sport nationwide and within the prefecture.
The name “National Athletic Meet” has been changed to “National Sports Festival” from the 2024 Games.
What is the National Sports Festival for People with a Disability?
The National Sports Festival for People with a Disability is a national sports festival held annually to allow people with disabilities to experience the joy of athletics through sports, to deepen public understanding of disabilities, and to contribute to the promotion of social participation by those with disabilities. The National Sports Festival for the Physically Challenged, and the National Sports Festival for the Intellectually Challenged, held since 1965 and 1992 respectively, were combined into the National Sports Festival for People with a Disability, which has been held at the same venue as the JAPAN GAMES since 2001, upon the completion of the JAPAN GAMES.
The National Sports Festival for People with a Disability includes both individual and team events as official competitions, and the team competitions are held between prefectures and designated cities. In addition to the official competitions, other competitions may be held as “exhibition events” if they are deemed effective from the viewpoint of promoting adaptive sports.
Gunma Tournament Nicknamed “Yukemuri Kokusupo Zensupo Gunma”.
Gunma Prefecture has some of the best hot springs in Japan.
The name “Yukemuri” is derived from the hot springs in Gunma Prefecture, which are among the best in the country.
The people of Gunma Prefecture will work together as one to create a tournament that is “uniquely Gunma” with the creativity and energy that wells up like “yu-kemuri” (hot spring steam).
We will aim for a tournament with “Gunma's character” as one prefecture.
Gunma Tournament nickname logo design concept
The logo design is meant to convey a sense of power and momentum, while being easy to read. The logo is uniformly thick and uses many straight lines to convey the strength and momentum of the sport, while the curvilinear elements and partially rounded corners of the letters also convey human emotion and warmth.
The mascot character of the competition “GUNMACHAN”
GUNMACHAN has been active as Gunma Prefecture's publicity director in various events, including publicity for the prefecture.
As the official mascot of the Games, GUNMACHAN will hold up the torch symbolizing the Games and wear a uniform with the year of the Games, “2029” on it, to spread the word about the Games being held in Gunma Prefecture.
