{"id":5071,"date":"2020-09-04T18:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T09:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/?p=5071"},"modified":"2022-08-24T11:50:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T02:50:50","slug":"paralliance-webinar-paralympics-one-year-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/news\/paralliance-webinar-paralympics-one-year-to-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralliance webinar: Paralympics \u2013 one year to go!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Article written by Martin Fritz for the Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SCCIJ):<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"fl-read first-letter\"><strong>Tokyo \u2013 Almost 120 guests and members of the Paralliance, an up-coming coalition of 20 chambers of commerce in Japan in support of diversity and inclusion, have celebrated the one-year countdown to the Paralympic Games by participating in a webinar presented by the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ). On the occasion of passing this milestone, Mr. Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and Mr. Yasushi Yamawaki, Tokyo 2020 Vice President and IPC Governing Board member, talked about the preparations and prospects for the Paralympics in the summer of 2021. Mr. Craig Spence, IPC Chief Brand &amp; Communications Officer, and BCCJ Vice President Ms. Alison Beale moderated the webinar.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"fl-img-caption\">\n<h3 class=\"fl-sub-headline\">\u201cRight decision was taken\u201d<\/h3>\n<p class=\"fl-read\">IPC President Parsons joined the webinar from his home country Brazil and started by stating his regret about not being in Japan now. \u201cToday, we would have been at the Olympic stadium in Tokyo to open the Paralympic Games,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we were not able to offer a safe environment to our athletes.\u201d Hence, the postponement was the right decision, although most of the IPC staff was first shocked and then \u201ckind of frustrated\u201d. \u201cThey felt they had spent seven years in vain to construct the most complicated jigsaw puzzle for delivering the best games ever,\u201d he recounted the feelings on March 24 when the decision was taken.<\/p>\n<p>After this review, Mr. Parsons voiced his hope that the coronavirus will be under control in one year. \u201cIn 365 days, we will be celebrating and it will become a special moment for humanity\u201d, he exclaimed. Until then, a lot of work has to be done again, though. The Japanese IPC board member Mr. Yamawaki joined the conversation from Tokyo and reported that more than 1,000 contracts had to be renegotiated one by one to minimize the cost for each party. \u201cIt was like starting from zero again,\u201d he said. IPC President Parsons chipped in and mentioned the IPC\u2019s 300 contracts. \u201cWe needed to balance our cash flow because we have to support 182 National Paralympic Committees and the staff of our headquarters in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-container fl-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Joint Chamber Paralliance \/ International Paralympic Committee - Tokyo 2020 Paralympics 1 Year to\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FwGRYjOldkE?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"fl-sub-headline\">Scaled-down games<\/h3>\n<p class=\"fl-read\">One consequence of the new situation: \u201cWe will reduce the scale of the game, even if a vaccine is found until then,\u201d the IPC president announced. The safety and well-being of the athletes have to be ensured, but everything else could be scaled down. \u201cWe are cutting everything that is not fundamental, there will be no luxuries, and all this will apply also to the future games,\u201d he promised. But the top official of the Paralympic Games also expressed his optimism that there will be no further delay. \u201cWe need to work as if the games are going ahead, and I have no doubts that the postponed games will still be special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moderator Craig Spence asked the two speakers about the legacy of the postponed Tokyo Paralympics. Mr. Yamawaki answered from Tokyo that the Games may mark the moment that Covid-19 is overcome. Also, the awareness in Japan for Para sports would have risen dramatically. Almost half of the population could now recognize a single Para sport athlete. Also, 99% of all train stations have been rebuilt for the needs of people with disabilities. \u201cThe children in 36,000 primary and secondary schools have learned about an inclusive society during the last four years,\u201d Mr. Yamawaki told the webinar viewers. \u201cThey will become the future leaders in creating an inclusive society in Japan.\u201d Usually, parents teach children, but the process has been reversed: Children would now teach their parents about inclusion. \u201cThis will be one of the biggest legacies of these games and may have the largest impact on attitudes towards people with disabilities,\u201d the IPC official stated.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"fl-sub-headline\">Essential business support<\/h3>\n<p class=\"fl-read\">Reacting to a question by the moderator, the IPC president talked about the support the Paralympic Games have received from the business community. \u201cIn Japan, this environment has been amazing,\u201d he stated. For example, two airlines and two financial groups would be sponsoring the Paralympics at the same time. \u201cWhat do we want to achieve? We want to change the world,\u201d he added. \u201cTen days of Para sports will become the catalyst to bring inclusion to Japanese society.\u201d Mr. Parsons pointed to the \u201cInclusion Summit\u201d as a platform for business leaders to discuss the acceptance of disability into the corporate world.<\/p>\n<p>The webinar viewers heard about the dream of the Paralympics\u2019 founder \u2013 that every disabled person in the world could become a taxpayer. \u201cHence, we need to provide more opportunities and change the mindset of people,\u201d the IPC president said. During the Q&amp;A session, he gave the following advice to the foreign business community in Japan: \u201cGet involved, employ more people with disability, and think how your business can become more inclusive,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, if you own a restaurant, put in a ramp, or do anything to make the life of a person with a disability easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"fl-sub-headline\">Biographies of the speakers<\/h3>\n<p class=\"fl-read\"><strong>Andrew Parsons<\/strong>\u00a0has been President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the Paralympic Movement\u2019s global governing body, since September 2017. Upon election, Andrew made strengthening the IPC\u2019s relationship with the IOC a top priority. In October 2018 Andrew was elected an IOC member. He also represents the IPC in the IOC Coordination Commissions for Tokyo 2020 and LA 2028. Andrew is also a member of the IOC Marketing Commission and sits on the Board of Directors for the Olympic Channel and on the WADA Foundation Board.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yasushi Yamawaki<\/strong>\u00a0has been a board member of the International Paralympic Committee since 2013 and a Vice President of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games since 2014. He is also the Chairman of the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center (2015-present), a councilor at the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) (2015-present) During his professional career, Mr. Yamawaki worked at Nippon Yusen (NYK Line) and rose to become the executive Vice-Chairman from 2008 to 2011).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sccij.jp\/news\/paralliance-webinar-paralympics-one-year-to-go\/\">https:\/\/www.sccij.jp\/news\/paralliance-webinar-paralympics-one-year-to-go\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article written by Martin Fritz for the Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Japan (SCCIJ): &nbsp; Tokyo \u2013 Almost 120 guests and members of the Paralliance, an up-coming coalition of 20 chambers of commerce in Japan in support of diversity and<a class=\"hover:text-blue focus:text-blue active:text-blue transition-colors duration-200\" href=\"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/news\/paralliance-webinar-paralympics-one-year-to-go\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10067,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5071\/revisions\/10067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blccj.or.jp\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}