Japan Legislature OKs Creation Of National Sports Agency Ahead Of 2020 Olympics

The Diet, Japan's bicameral legislature, passed a bill Wednesday "to create a sports agency that will coordinate administration in the sector ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics," according to KYODO. The body "will come into existence on Oct. 1 and will answer to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology." The law "spells out a range of duties for the agency’s projected staff of around 120 individuals, including sharpening the nation’s sporting prowess and looking after the general health of the population." Its first head is likely to be chosen from the sports arena "rather than a lawmaker or bureaucrat." Government sources said that Saburo Kawabuchi, 78, top adviser of the Japan FA, "is among the possible candidates" (KYODO, 5/13).