Hiroshi Yoshikawa, Part 1

Spirit of fair play for the 2002 World Cup

Hiroshi Yoshikawa, left, explains the damage of the atomic bomb to FIFA directors at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in October 1994.

Hiroshi Yoshikawa

Born in the city of Hiroshima in 1961. After graduating from Funairi High School, he moved to the United States. He graduated from the faculty of economics at UCLA. At the age of 25, he founded a company in Hiroshima called "American Dream" to support those studying abroad and interacting with different cultures. He served as an interpreter at the Los Angeles Olympics, provided support for the effort to register the A-bomb Dome as a World Heritage site, and worked as a member of the bidding committee to bring the 2002 World Cup to Japan. In February 2010, Mr. Yoshikawa served as the chief facilitator of the 2010 APEC Junior Conference in Hiroshima.

"European countries are nations of gentlemen. They made the proposal to Japan and South Korea to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup out of consideration for the feelings of both countries so there would be no bitterness. However, if one country had accepted the idea, while the other stubbornly refused, I think it's clear which side the eight gentlemen would have voted for."

That is how the President of the Union European Football Associations (UEFA) responded to my question: "If Japan had turned down the proposal of co-hosting the World Cup with South Korea, would the eight directors of the European nations have voted for Korea?"

At the time, Japan and South Korea were competitors in the bidding process which ended with the decisive vote made by the 21-member FIFA panel of directors. If the eight directors from Europe had voted for Korea, Japan would likely have failed in its bid to host the tourney.

On May 30, 1996, Ken Naganuma, then president of the Japan Football Association, had a brief, urgent meeting with UEFA President Lennart Johansson in a corner of a hotel lobby in Switzerland. A few hours later, Japan accepted the official proposal made by the head of FIFA for Japan and South Korea to co-host the 2002 World Cup. At that moment, the decision was made to move forward with the first co-hosted World Cup in history.

I was a member of the International Affairs Department of the World Cup Japan 2002 Bidding Committee and I accompanied President Naganuma on his visits to many countries. As the competition with South Korea intensified, the cost of the bidding campaign, which was pursued across the six FIFA continents, grew larger than expected.

Under such conditions, there were voices saying, "To get 11 of the 21 votes needed to win the bid, we could take a more 'direct' way." But Mr. Naganuma responded clearly, "We can never show the World Cup to our children if we become host in an unfair manner." We then acted in line with this principle and Japan didn't waver at any time in the process.

After graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1984, my very first job was as an interpreter for the Los Angeles Olympics. Since then, I have been involved in negotiations with people of different cultural backgrounds for international sporting events, including the World Cup, as well as international conferences. Along the way, I have had opportunities to witness participants making major decisions which have reverberated in people's lives and memories.

From these experiences, I have come to cherish three things. One is "fair play." I learned the meaning of this word from Mr. Naganuma. Negotiations between different cultures can be very tricky. If we make a decision based solely on the profit for ourselves, that decision will turn out to be the wrong one. However, if we choose the option felt to embody the idea of fair play, that will be the right solution.

The second thing is "partnership." Of course, partnership among colleagues is important, but I think partnership with the person you're negotiating with is the key to overcoming difficulties.

The last one is "perseverance for five seconds." There's a Japanese proverb that includes the idea of "perseverance for ten years." However, my life has been full of blunders so I can't wait for ten years. If I fall, I get up quickly, even in tears, and stand tall and move forward again!

By doing my best to choose the path of fair play, and proceed by building partnership with people who share the same aim, I won't come to regret the result. I think a person who bounces back after suffering a setback is more appealing than someone who has never experienced failure.