HEROs Sportsmanship for the future

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Group photo of ambassadors including Hidetoshi Nakata (second from left) and The Nippon Foundation Chairman Yohei Sasakawa (far left)

Sportsmanship for the future

Athletes can demonstrate sportsmanship when they are not competing.
Sportsmanship also means proactively working to create bonds and assist society.
Nevertheless, athletes’ activities outside sporting events receive little attention, and not all athletes engage in these activities.
HEROs has been launched to bring together currently active and retired athletes to build a framework for creating social bonds across Japan. HEROs consists of three programs – HEROs AWARD, HEROs ACTION, and HEROs ACADEMY – to create opportunities for spreading sportsmanship that creates social bonds through recognition, implementation, and education.
This is our hope and our mission.

"HEROs Sportsmanship for the future" logo

HEROs Project

HEROs is a social innovation project that seeks to use the expertise, experience, and human resource networks developed by The Nippon Foundation through its social contribution activities to harness the power of sports, to give children hopes and dreams for the future and create a better society for the next generation.
HEROs Website (Japanese)

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Hidetoshi Nakata

HEROs Ambassadors

By proactively promoting the HEROs project, we aim to create new “HEROs.” We are inviting athletes (currently active or retired) who are enthusiastic about giving back to the society that has supported them in their competitive lives, and through these activities conveying this message and expanding the circle of “HEROs.”

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Takuma Sato, winner of the 2017 Indianapolis 500 auto race and HEROs ambassador

List of HEROs Ambassadors (alphabetical)

Shunsuke Azuma (Handball), Miki Ando (Figure skating),Tomoko Hagiwara (Swimming), Shintaro Ikeda (Badminton), Kosei Inoue (Judo), Junichi Kawai (Para swimming), Nahomi Kawasumi (Soccer) ,Ayumu Goromaru (rugby), Ryota Murata (Boxing), Maki Nakajima (Motorboat racing), Hidetoshi Nakata (Soccer), Shinji Negi (Wheelchair basketball), Motoko Obayashi (Volleyball), Fumiko Okuno (Synchronized swimming), Takuma Sato (Motorsports), Kojiro Shiraishi (Yachting), Yuta Tabuse (Basketball), Daisuke Uehara (Ice sledge hockey), Takahiro Yamamoto (Volleyball)