The first international tournament for Okinawa style karate is scheduled for August, and expectations are growing that the martial art will become even more popular at home and abroad.
A future vision for the martial art, crafted by the Okinawa Prefectural Government, local karate organizations and the business circle, presents aspirations for the style over a 20-year time scale based from the hopes of local people, and proposes a range of possible measures to be taken to improve its preservation and promotion.
Those include adding Okinawa¡¯s style of karate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization¡¯s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, making the international tournament a regular event, having a karate competitor from the southern island prefecture win an Olympic gold medal, and developing karate-linked tourism resources.
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