Who would have ever imagined that times like these would befall us and endure for so long? Before anyone knew what was happening, the world had come to a standstill with no sports for even days on end. Restrictions on coverage began, which seriously curtailed our opportunities to work.
We might recall the starting line of the Hakone Ekiden (collegiate long-stance relay), which typically is so crowded that you cannot move about freely. This was not so on January 2, 2021. There was dead silence and just the familiar faces amongst the officials, some police and security, and a few from the media corps on hand. It was nearing a year since first hearing the word "coronavirus". A sports doctor on the scene commented then, "This is what it will look like next year (2022) as well." Sure enough, there were no spectators at the start of the 2022 ekiden either.
Nonetheless, the sports world pushed ahead slowly but surely and ever so mindful of safety. What the pandemic did was to remind us of just how many people support sports competition and just how integrally important fans are to competitive sports.
It is our hope – and expectation – that this exhibition will remind everyone of the "power of sports".
AJPS Exhibition Steering Committee
About the Association Japonaise de la Presse Sportive (AJPS)
The Association Japonaise de la Presse Sportive (AJPS) is an organization of sports journalists (photographers, writers, etc.) who are professionally active in Japan and abroad. It was founded in June 1976 for the purpose of promoting the Japanese world of sports. One of the priority goals at the time of our founding was to join the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), so the budding organization similarly chose French for its official name in international circles, hence the AJPS acronym.
Our predecessors at the AJPS expanded their coverage activities beyond Japan to sporting events around the world and worked diligently behind the scenes to establish a foothold for Japanese sports journalists at international competitions. Those efforts paid off a long 16 years after the AJPS was launched, as approval was finally granted to join the AIPS in 1992. From that point forward, the AJPS has been recognized as an organization of freelance Japanese sports journalists. (*)
Since 2020, the sports reporting environment has been turned inside-out because of the Covid-19 pandemic. To everyone's dismay, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were held without spectators for the first time ever! The "Restart ～ And Beyond" exhibition was conceived and titled as a salute to civilization's power to reemerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Sports are a visible symbol of that power and we at the AJPS remain dedicated to expressing the attraction of sports in support of society's comeback.
The AJPS will feat its 50th anniversary in 2026. This milestone reminds us to thank those who supported us during a time that the place of a freelancer in sports journalism was being questioned, and gives us the impetus to do even more as an organization going forward.
Who would have ever imagined that times like these would befall us and endure for so long? Before anyone knew what was happening, the world had come to a standstill with no sports for even days on end. Restrictions on coverage began, which seriously curtailed our opportunities to work.
We might recall the starting line of the Hakone Ekiden (collegiate long-stance relay), which typically is so crowded that you cannot move about freely. This was not so on January 2, 2021. There was dead silence and just the familiar faces amongst the officials, some police and security, and a few from the media corps on hand. It was nearing a year since first hearing the word "coronavirus". A sports doctor on the scene commented then, "This is what it will look like next year (2022) as well." Sure enough, there were no spectators at the start of the 2022 ekiden either.
Nonetheless, the sports world pushed ahead slowly but surely and ever so mindful of safety. What the pandemic did was to remind us of just how many people support sports competition and just how integrally important fans are to competitive sports.
It is our hope – and expectation – that this exhibition will remind everyone of the "power of sports".
AJPS Exhibition Steering Committee