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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