To learn what is normal in the world, let the young ones travel.

This summer was particularly exceptionally hot. When players compete in high temperatures, their joints and muscles retain heat, so the staff in each category must have had a lot of trouble quickly cooling their bodies down, using ice baths and running large fans to circulate the air. Although they fell short of the two words "victory" at each tournament, it was surely a summer in which both the players and the staff worked harder than ever.

In particular, at the Japan Club Youth Championship, where the youth players competed, all matches up to the quarterfinals held in Gunma Prefecture kicked off at 8:45 a.m. Under the blazing sun, this is a kickoff time that would be unthinkable worldwide. Some people say, "What is normal in Japan is abnormal in the world," but the opposite is also true: "What is normal in the world is abnormal in Japan." It was under such conditions that the youth players had to compete.

Speaking of the "world," we were able to conduct overseas tours that had been difficult to realize during the COVID-19 pandemic. The youth players traveled to Indonesia, where they played against Spain's Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, and returned as champions from a tournament in China, where they competed as a combined team of U-16 and U-14 Junior Youth players. The Japan-Brazil Friendship Cup was also held for the first time in four years, and the Junior Youth players from Kashima, Norte, and Tsukuba gained invaluable experience.

Until last year, the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to go abroad, closing off opportunities to interact with more people. The two or three years children spend growing up are completely different from those of adults, and are an important period for absorbing as much as possible as they become adults. For modern children, those two or three years had become a blank period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so regarding this overseas tour, we believed that our mission was to first provide them with an unprecedented, unfamiliar environment and let them gain experience, regardless of the results.

As expected, there are many things you can only understand by actually going out into the world. That is precisely why people of old were right to say, "Let the young ones travel." Mistakes unique to travel are bound to happen, but there is surely much to learn from them. It is truly "What is normal in Japan is abnormal in the world." For example, water in Japan is clear, but there are regions in the world where it is normal for water not to be clear.

I also used to go abroad often in the past, and I came to feel that just as each country has its own unique culture, each also has its own distinctive smell. Korea has the smell of Korea, Germany has the smell of Germany, Brazil has the smell of Brazil, and India has the smell of India.

It is very important to know those smells that can only be experienced on site. You must be able to eat local food while experiencing those smells and sleep soundly in any environment, or you cannot become a player who can compete in the world. Children, be resilient wherever you go. I am increasingly excited to see the growth of the children who experienced this summer's overseas tour.