This study examined perceptions of the Tokyo 2020 Games among ordinary citizens living in Tokyo, the host city of the Tokyo 2020 Games, in the immediate aftermath of the Tokyo 2020 Games. This study was a cross-sectional survey study conducted via the Internet. Participants were asked to choose from six options that best corresponded to their views on the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Games. The results were as follows: “It should have been carried out as planned and on the same schedule” (implementation group), “It should have been carried out as planned without spectators or other measures to prevent infection” (no-spectators implementation group), “It should have been carried out as planned and postponed” (postponement group), “It should have been carried out without spectators or other measures to prevent infection and postponed” (no-spectators postponement group), “It should have been canceled” (canceled group), and “Others.” In conclusion, compared to April-June 2020, (1) the percentage of postponement group decreased by approximately one-third； (2) the percentage of no-spectators postponement group increased approximately tenfold. The significance of this study is that the data was collected immediately after the Tokyo 2020 Games, which was an unprecedented event.

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In recent years, regional migration has become an important policy theme in Japan from the perspectives of correcting the concentration of population in Tokyo and regional revitalization. Based on the previous studies, not only public policies and institutions but also the “social capital” of the destination region and migrants are considered important to promote migration and support migrants. On the other hand, fans and supporters of community-based professional sports clubs have high social capital, suggesting that they may play a new public role as social public goods. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the use of J. League clubs to promote immigration and support immigrants. Based on interviews with people who have immigrated to rural areas and people involved with J. League clubs, etc., it was considered that the following elements are important to promote and support migration: “community” and “human resources” to connect migrants to local informal networks, and “place” and “content” to expand such opportunities. In particular, the problem is how to procure communities and human resources with “bridging social capital”. On the other hand, it was suggested that supporters of J. League clubs and their communities have bridging social capital, which could be a potential management resource for the development of migration support mechanisms. Based on the above findings and analysis, the authors proposed a “J. League Clubs’ Authorized Welcome Café”, operated in collaboration with J. League Clubs, supporters, and local governments to promote regional migration and support migrants at the “Sports Policy for Japan 2020”, a conference on sports policy conducted by university students held in November 2020. The café will be a “place where anyone can stop by casually”, including not only soccer fans but also local residents and prospective immigrants. If the social capital of J Club supporters can function as a “bridge”, such cafes have the potential to reach a wide range of people. One of the important findings of this study is the potential of J-club fans/supporters to become a management resource for the community when viewed from the perspective of social capital. These findings may be applicable not only to the promotion of migration, but also to the solution of various local issues.

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The purpose of this study was to (1) clarify the characteristics of female charity runners ; (2) identify communications between charity runners and beneficial organizations and their attitudes toward donations ; and (3) determine the relationship between charity runners’ attitudes toward donations and the organizations’ continuing support. The S (Sympathize), I (Interest / Identify), P (Participation) and S (Spread / Share) (SIPS) model (Sato, 2008) was used for the research framework. The SIPS model is characterized for building long-term relationships between companies and consumers due to the recent penetration of social media, and it is proposed as the next version of the Attention, Interest, Desire, Memory, and Action (AIDMA) model, which is a framework for understanding customer’s attitudes and behavioral processes. First, to clarify the communication that affects SIPS, a questionnaire was administered to the staff of beneficial organizations. This extracted specific efforts that have been made regarding charity runners. As a result, it became clear that the implementation contents can be classified into three time phases: before the day of the event, on the day of the event, and after the event. An analysis of the correlation between communication and SIPS item scores showed that communication on the day of and after the charity event tended to be significantly more correlated with each item of SIPS than communication before the event. Next, as a result of correction and analysis regarding the correction index, “Sympathize” and “Interest” were in a covariant relationship in the model, showing an acceptable value, and the path coefficient from “interest” to “Identify” had the strongest influence (.91). The result also showed direct effects from “Identify” to “Spread / Share” (.80), from “Identify” to “Participation” (.25), and from “Participation” to “Spread / Share” (.07).

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This study focused on highly sustainable comprehensive community sports clubs that collaborate with local stakeholders on regional problems, and clarified their processes for producing sports products and developing club management that led to the creation of products that helped solve regional problems. Interviews were conducted with four individuals: managers and experienced former club advisors of Clubs A and B that met the “sustainable club” criteria. An analysis was conducted by employing Kinoshita’s M-GTA (modified grounded theory approach). This helped design a model diagram to demonstrate the process of creating sport products: a) specific to integrated clubs and b) for solving regional problems ; and to show how the clubs involved themselves in the community based on their size and development stage. It was found that the highly sustainable clubs overcame the resource-constraining environment by not only creating a friendly community through sports but also by leveraging the community of club members with high social capital. This study also suggests that a new market can be developed by shifting the perspective from simply promoting exercise and sports to focusing on community living issues and trying to solve them through sports. These results may contribute to the management knowledge (=innovation) that helps community sports clubs solve regional problems (=sociality) and be profitable (=business) at the same time.

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In recent years, social demands and academic interest in the environmental and social contribution activities of professional sports clubs have increased. This is due to the spread of the idea that building good relationships with various stakeholders is essential for clubs to enhance their corporate value. However, it is not easy for professional sports clubs to continuously implement sustainable environmental initiatives (ESI) due to the financial burden. It is unclear to what extent consumers are aware of the ESI implemented by professional sports clubs and how much they are willing to spend afterwards, and there are no studies on ESI by professional sports clubs in Japan. Furthermore, it is significant and extremely important to clarify the results of ESI conducted by professional sports clubs on their teams from a marketing perspective. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward professional sports clubs that conduct ESI. To achieve the objective, stakeholder theory and social identity theory are applied as a theoretical background to examine the impact of perceived ESI on intention to support a club and intention to attend a game. Data were obtained from a sample that included potential as well as existing consumers, and it was found that the perception of ESI influenced the intention to support a club and the intention to attend a game. The results of the multiple-group structural equation modeling revealed that the perception of ESI influenced the intention to support a club and the intention to attend a game, even among consumers who had no experience of attending a game. In the future, it will be necessary to elucidate the mechanism and causal relationship by which the perception of ESI enhances intentional loyalty, through what kind of psychological process.

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The purpose of this study was to categorize spectators in Albirex Niigata’s home games from the aspect of spectator motives and to clarify the characteristics of sports spectators, who constitute a mature market for professional sports. A total of 3,312 samples were classified into four clusters through non-hierarchical cluster analysis by applying the sports spectator motivation scale (Performance, Social, Achievement, Escape, and Drama). One-way analysis of variance, multiple comparisons, chi-square test, and residuals analysis were performed to understand the characteristics of each cluster. Then, based on the characteristics, these clusters were named floating spectators, introverted spectators, habitual spectators, and enthusiastic spectators. The floating spectators cluster was composed of people with weaker commitment and involvement with the club. This segment showed low scores on all sports spectator motivation factors and had a significantly higher proportion of fans in their 40s and first-year fans than other segments. The introverted spectators had a significantly higher percentage of those who had supported the club for 2-4 years. It showed high scores for Performance, Achievement, Escape, and Drama, but a low score for Social. The habitual spectators had a significantly higher proportion of fans who were older adults and had been supporting the club for more than 10 years compared with other segments, and they also had lower scores for Escape and Drama. These scores suggested that such fans expect a type of scheduled victory for the club and that watching games in the stadium has become a part of their daily lives. Finally, in the enthusiastic spectators, the percentage of fans in their 20s and younger was significantly higher, and they had a strong commitment and involvement in the club. Albirex Niigata is expected to realize sustainable growth by developing and implementing a marketing strategy that reflects the characteristics of each segment.

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With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games hosting, attention has begun to be paid to spectators of parasports. However, there has been limited research on spectators of parasports. It is essential to clarify the motivations for spectatorship, which can predict future spectatorship behavior, and there is room to consider the relationships among factors and moderating variables. The purpose of this study was threefold : (1) to identify the structure of spectator motivation and to provide basic data for the development of a valid a reliable spectator motivation scale for parasports (2) to investigate the relationship between spectator motivation and spectator intention, and (3) to compare and verify how the relationship between spectator motivational factors and spectator intention differs depending on differences in spectators' psychological involvement in sport. By conducting a questionnaire survey with international wheelchair basketball spectators (n = 993), we were able to identify a parasport spectator motivation scale consisting of six factors and 19 items. Furthermore, in examining the relationship between the factors and each variable, we were able to identify factors that had a significant effect. In addition, by using the moderating variable, we were able to clarify that there were differences between spectator motivation and spectator intention depending on the psychological involvement of the spectator in the sport. It is hoped that these results will be used as primary data for organizers of parasports events to promote the uniqueness and singularity of parasports and to stimulate spectator behavior.

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This study investigated the effects of various instructions about lifting motion with different weights on hip joint, knee joint, and trunk tilt angles. Twelve healthy males without back pain performed a lifting motion of a 5kg or 15kg weight from the floor and placing it on a table. Each of the joint angles during the lifting motion were compared regarding three different motion instructions : (1) instructed to hold the weight while lowering the hips and lift it (focusing on hip position ; HIP-INST), (2) instructed to squat and hold the weight while keeping the back straight and lift it (focusing on upper body posture ; UB-INST), and (3) without motion instruction (NO-INST). Hip joint angles were significantly larger in the UB-INST than in the NO- and HIP-INST. Knee joint angles were significantly larger in the NO-INST than in the HIP- and UB-INST. Trunk tilt angles were significantly smaller in the HIP- and UB-INST than in the NO-INST, and in the UB-INST than in the HIP-INST. Knee joint angle tended to be larger and trunk tilt angle was significantly larger when lifting 15kg than lifting 5kg. These results suggest that the hip and knee joints were flexed and extended in the HIP-INST. Therefore, the instruction focusing on the position of the hips may help to prevent back pain during lifting motions. The results also suggest that instruction regarding such lifting motions might be important when lifting heavier objects.

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The sports participation rate, which indicates the exercise habits of people, has increased significantly in the last 30 years. According to the survey of household economy, the ratio of sports admission fees to education and entertainment expenses is on the rise. Then, how much has the sports spectating rate, which indicates whether or not a person spectated at sports events at least once a year, increased? In this study, we investigated whether the increase in the spectating rate could be confirmed by macro data. The data was secondarily obtained from the “National Sports-Life Survey” and “National Sports-Life Survey of Children and Young People” conducted by the Sasakawa Sports Foundation, and the ratios of respondents who had spectated some kind of sports in the last year were aggregated and compared by survey year. To evaluate the significance of difference in each survey year, Kruskal-Wallis test and Bonferroni correction were used. As a result of the investigation, a significant increase in the spectating rate was observed from 1994 to 2010 for adults excluding students, and no significant decrease was confirmed thereafter. On the other hand, for professional baseball (NPB) and soccer (J-League), there was no increasing trend in the spectating rate. This suggested that the absolute number of spectators is small compared to the whole population in Japan. Although sports admission fees have increased due to the repeaters, from the viewpoint of the spectating rate, even if the number of spectators at one event increases, it gives small impact on the spectating rate of the whole, as long as the venues are in a biased location. In order to increase the number of spectators, it is important that various events be held in various areas.

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