Dear Branch Chiefs and Contacts
First of all, I would like to start my message by expressing my appreciation to all of you for your warm support for our organization.
The 11th World Karate Championship, the grand Budo Karate festival held every 4 years, is just around the corner. Here in Japan, the preparation work for this event is reaching its final stages. The main actor of the tournament is the competitor. With pride towards the fact that you will be participating in the most honorable stage in the world, please be sure to go forth with your last preparation, so that you will be able to face the tournament in your best condition. Competitors from KWU (Kyokushin World Union), with which we have signed an official agreement to work together for the inclusion of Kyokushin Karate in the Olympic Games, will be participating in this tournament. I have high expectations that the competitors from various Kyokushin groups will exchange and interact with each other, through a fair, hard, and refreshing battle, regardless of the organization they belong to.
I am very much looking forward to meeting the Branch Chiefs and Contacts from all over the world at the World Championship. As I have mentioned before, WKO is an organization based on a democratic system. In order to further develop our WKO, let us exchange constructive viewpoints, and join hands to take great steps towards the future. The World Karate Seminar will be held after the tournament near Mt. Fuji, the symbol of Japan, and I am looking forward to a great Karate experience with all of the participants.
On September 28, Karate was chosen as one of the additional competitions to be proposed by the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. I would like to express my sincere respect and congratulations to those who have done their best to achieve this result. Unfortunately, Full Contact Karate was not included as part of the Karate competition that was chosen this time. We have reached the stage to determine and accept the current possibility of coexistence for Non Contact Kumite and Full Contact Kumite within the Karate competition, and while considering the possibility of Full Contact Karate being included in the Olympic Games as an independent competition, we will do our best to further increase the international value of Full Contact Karate. In the promotion of such activities, the founding of the international federation (IF) to unify the Full Contact Karate competition is a requirement for the near future. I expect the further promotion by our WKO Branch Chiefs and Contacts, for the founding of the national federations (NF) to unify the Full Contact Karate competition in their respective countries and regions. The real battle for the inclusion of Full Contact Karate in the Olympics, begins now. We will continue to pursue this possibility, so that the children practicing Full Contact Karate will be able to perform at the Olympic stage one day. Due to the continuation of such future oriented effort, I hope we can meet the expectations of the 1.03 million people who supported our worldwide signature collecting campaign in November 2014 for the inclusion of Full Contact Karate in the Olympic Games. The final decision regarding the additional competitions and events for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be made after the approval at the 129th IOC Session that will be held at Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.
As I have mentioned above, the 11th World Karate Championship is just around the corner. In closing, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all who have given their kind cooperation in the organization of this tournament.
OSU
Kenji Midori
WKO President