Message from JLA, March 12th, 2012

This has been a very special year for the lifesavers all around Japan and also for Japan Lifesaving Association. After the disaster, many sports events were refrained, considering the people in Tohoku region still trying to recover from the disaster, so it was a very tough decision for us to make.

We came to a conclusion to hold “Surf Carnival” in June since we realized that the mission of our sports is to save lives.

We had lifesavers from all over the country to attend not only the sports event but also “Tsunami Symposium” which we held at the same time, to share ideas and thoughts on how we, as lifesaver should deal and live with disaster.

We had serious discussions how lifesaver should act in case of great earthquake and tsunami and put together a guideline.

At the forum, Japanese lifesaving community has also put together a proposal that, “Lifesaver should be the role model in evacuation, appropriately leading other people to safe area, while securing its own life” 6 month later at Nationals Lifesaving Championships, lifesaver from all over the country gathered again to celebrate 20th anniversary of Japan Lifesaving Association.

At the ceremony we had video messages from lifesavers in Tohoku region. All the lifesavers were reminded of the event theme, “Passing the torch of life to the next generation / To become the bridge between ocean and people”.

We also had another big loss last fall. The first chairman for JLA, Mr. Kunichika Kaneko has passed away, who was always hoping the progress of lifesaving community in Japan.

After seeing the massive power of the nature, Japanese were reminded that we must learn and train to encounter the unexpected. As we are living on fault-line surrounded by ocean, many people are calling for more education in disaster prevention and mitigation.

We, Lifesavers would like to become “the bridge of ocean and people” and to meet new expectation from the society, in order to “pass the torch of life to the next generation”.

After the disaster, we were very much encouraged by our friends from all of the world and all over Japan. We would like to appreciate for all of you who sent us message and we would like to keep helping the Tohoku region with our hope for sooner recovery.

Japan Lifesaving Association