The Nippon Foundation to Host First Trash-Picking “SpoGomi” World Cup in Tokyo in November
The Nippon Foundation will host the first ever “SpoGomi” World Cup in November in which some 20 teams from around the globe will compete for the world title by collecting the most trash from the streets of Tokyo.
I made the announcement at a press conference on February 14, where I was joined by Mr. Koji Yanai, director of Fast Retailing Co., as well as Olympic swimmer Mr. Takeshi Matsuda－the winner of four silver and bronze medals at multiple Games－Olympic sport climber Ms. Miho Nonaka and entertainer Ms. Suzuran Yamauchi, all of whom will act as SpoGomi World Cup ambassadors.
Fast Retailing, which operates the UNIQLO clothing retail chain in 24 countries and regions in Asia, Oceania, Europe and North America, donated $2 million to support the SpoGomi world championship event.
“SpoGomi”, a combination of “sport” and “gomi” (Japanese for trash), was introduced in Japan in 2008 as a domestic contest to encourage people to clean up public spaces.
About 20 countries are scheduled to hold qualifying tournaments to select a national team that will compete in the finals. In Japan, qualifying events are being held in all 47 prefectures from April.
Each team of three has one hour to collect litter from a designated area of the Japanese capital. The real challenge, however, lies in sorting it correctly into bags for combustible waste, recyclable plastic bottles, metal cans and other categories.
When the time is up, the amount of garbage collected by each team will be weighed and the team that has collected the most trash will be declared the winner. In the event of a tie, additional points will be awarded, based on the type of trash.
Referees will monitor the competitors, who are not allowed to run, nor are they allowed to collect trash from from private property, roads or railway tracks.
SpoGomi Ambassador Mr. Takeshi Matsuda said during the press conference: "Picking up litter can be fun if you make it a game to compete in. Anyone can take part, regardless of age or gender."
The Nippon Foundation created the animated film SpoGomi: World Cup Exhibition Match Arc to promote the event among schoolchildren. In the story, set in the near future, competitive litter collecting has become as popular around the world as football and players are feted as superstars.
The SpoGomi World Cup is being held as part of the Umi-to-Nippon Project (The Ocean and Japan Project) that The Nippon Foundation launched in 2017 to raise people’s awareness of the issue of ocean debris, with the aim of passing on clean and beautiful oceans to the next generation.
Roughly 80% of ocean debris originates from cities and towns, so reducing litter on land is essential to preventing marine debris from accumulating. Reducing everyday trash will not only make towns and cities cleaner, it will also make the oceans cleaner.
I believe that those who participate in the litter-collecting competition will refrain from littering in the future.
I sincerely hope that by hosting this world-class tournament, Japan will become the starting point of a global campaign aimed at creating garbage-free cities, rivers and oceans.
The 21 countries currently planning to participate in the SpoGomi World Cup are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Japan.
