A new agency on sports, to be established in October as an external bureau of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, will be aimed at beefing up support for sports organizations that send athletes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. But there is another important mission in its brief: helping to strengthen the overall foundation for sports activities in Japan.

The government's administration of sports-related policies is currently divided among several ministries. The education ministry is in charge of policies related to sports organizations; the land and infrastructure ministry takes care of the construction of sports facilities, and the health ministry is responsible for policies designed to promote people's physical well-being.

The new Sports Agency will consist of some 120 officials from these ministries, including health ministry officials to promote sports activities for the disabled and Foreign Ministry bureaucrats overseeing sports-related international activities. It will also set up an Olympics and Paralympics section, which will exist through 2020.