An "East Asian Era" is unfolding in the hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and other sports, and nonsports, megaevents. In addition to three editions of the Olympics and Paralympics, several other not as large mega-events have been or are set to be staged in East Asia over the next 5 years. How long the interest in hosting sports mega-events will continue and, if it does, who will be involved in the production of these events are the questions explored in this article. The article consists of five sections. First, we outline the context in which the growth of sports mega-events in the past four decades has occurred. Second, we sketch the theoretical and methodological approaches we use drawing on mobilities research and actor- network theory. Third, studies of knowledge management and policy transfer and mobilities associated with sports mega-events are discussed as a way of understanding the development of mobile mega-event expertise. Fourth, we examine career mobilities, networks, and the extent to which an East Asian "Mega-Event Caravan" could be said to exist or be in formation. Finally, we draw preliminary conclusions and indicate where further research is required.

The purpose of this research was to clarify the factors related with student satisfaction and the requirements for career development for Japan’s first English sport management graduate program that fosters international sport managers, and the ideal graduate program necessary to develop human resources who can play an active role as leaders in the international sport world in Japan. A chi-square test was performed by cross tabulating each factor to clarify the relationship between “total satisfaction” and “satisfaction” of individual categories, “total career necessity”, and “career necessity” of individual categories according to the results of the TIAS graduate survey. The results indicate that there is a significant difference in the satisfaction level of the subjects in Olympic and Paralympic education and a common ground between the high group and the non-high group of total satisfaction of the graduates as a factor that affects satisfaction level. In addition, for services other than lecture content, there was a significant difference in terms of “Quality of lectures”, “Opportunities for good communication with lecturers” and “High academic support for lecture’s students”, which also represent high and non-high groups of overall satisfaction. Conversely, from the viewpoint of the career requirements of graduates, the content of the lectures differs from the satisfaction of graduates, and all lectures in the “Sport management field” have a significant difference between the high group and the non-high group of comprehensive career requirements. In addition, for services other than lecture content, unlike the results obtained regarding satisfaction, there was also a significant difference in the quality of opportunity provision between the high and the non-high group overall career needs groups and “Quality of external collaboration”, “Quality of industry network”, “Quality of students”, “Quality of administrative service” and “Quality of providing career opportunities”.

The objective of this research was to clarify the insight underlying the strategic alliance formation by multiple European universities and sports organizations and to explore the roles of each organization participating in the generation of strategic alliance through the governance mechanism on decision making. The results indicate that European sports organizations and universities collaborated to generate international sports management human resources by developing research institutes or establishing graduate degree programs. Also, this research revealed the organizational governance through which alliances with sports organizations, universities, and local governments generated differences in the evaluation from multiple standpoints. The potential strength of the relationship among universities, sports organizations and external organizations such as local governments is recognized to be a key for competitive advantage and challenge. Therefore, each strategic alliance with sports organizations and external organizations such as local governments is required for each graduate school program as mimicking or imitation of same alliance model development is impossible in reality to maintain competitive advantage.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Purpose of this paper is to clarify the competitive strategies of programs in recently established sports management graduate schools such as AISTS, University of Liverpool FIFA Master, MEMOS, Seoul National University and the Russian International Olympic University by comparing the differences in each of the business areas.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This paper compares the categories of &ldquo;Customer&rdquo; , &ldquo;Mission&rdquo; , &ldquo;Provides value&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cost structure&rdquo; of the abovementioned institutions. As a result, the categories of &ldquo;Mission&rdquo; , &ldquo;Provides value&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cost structure&rdquo; of each program were found not to be significantly different across the institutions. On the other hand, the &ldquo;Customer&rdquo; category showed differentiation in each of the graduate programs. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The results indicate that the graduate programs in this research field represent a relationship involving conflict in terms of managing graduate education programs to foster international sports managers. Despite this competitive strategy, competition between these institutions is avoided through differentiation of each institution&rsquo; s &ldquo;customer&rdquo; base.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Purpose of this paper is to clarify the competitive strategies of programs in recently established sports management graduate schools such as AISTS, University of Liverpool FIFA Master, MEMOS, Seoul National University and the Russian International Olympic University by comparing the differences in each of the business areas.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This paper compares the categories of &ldquo;Customer&rdquo; , &ldquo;Mission&rdquo; , &ldquo;Provides value&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cost structure&rdquo; of the abovementioned institutions. As a result, the categories of &ldquo;Mission&rdquo; , &ldquo;Provides value&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cost structure&rdquo; of each program were found not to be significantly different across the institutions. On the other hand, the &ldquo;Customer&rdquo; category showed differentiation in each of the graduate programs. <BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The results indicate that the graduate programs in this research field represent a relationship involving conflict in terms of managing graduate education programs to foster international sports managers. Despite this competitive strategy, competition between these institutions is avoided through differentiation of each institution&rsquo; s &ldquo;customer&rdquo; base.

This article analyses the international sport event of the 2002 FIFA World Cup as a lieu de mémoire (realm of memory). The analysis will focus on: (1) how memories of the 2002 FIFA World Cup influence the actions and behaviour of Japanese people today
and (2) the memories of those involved at the competition venues and training camps used by the participating national teams. If there is no will to remember, the event becomes just a meaningless date in history. I show how the memories supporting the symbolic reality of the 2002 FIFA World Cup are maintained. The distinction between the Japanese, in general, and people who were directly involved is important in this context. I argue that the 2002 FIFA World Cup has not been transformed into a general realm of memory shared by the Japanese as a whole. By contrast, there are very vivid local and regional memories. The lieu de mémoire of the 2002 FIFA World Cup is, therefore, different from typical examples which strengthen national identity. Instead it supports localized remembrances and decentralizes the memory. © 2011 Taylor &amp
Francis.

Regarding sports as an industry, it is indispensable that top athletes become role models and icons. However, a great deal of change has been occurring in the career environment after graduation for the athletes of Japan. They have anxieties about their career possibilities and this is a major problem for developing the sports industry.    This study investigated male students who belonged to university wrestling clubs. A survey about employment rates was conducted at five universities. The results showed a lower average rate of employment that of the over all rate, but there were big differences among the universities. Therefore, on the assumption that employment situation is affected by instruction and management in the athletic clubs, it is necessary to make proposals and take positive action to solve these problems.

This study deals with factors affecting the migration of J.League players. The purpose of this study is to describe the reasons why J.League players transfer to foreign football clubs. The data of this study were collected from Internet websites, magazines, newspapers, books that the players published, and statistical reports. In this study, 107 cases were gathered. First in this study, the history of the migration of Japanese football players during 1975-2003 is described and the numbers of cases and the destinations of the players are explained. The pattern of the migration is divided into three periods. The first period is from 1975 to 1992. This period was before the launching of the J.League. In Japan, there had not been any professional football players before 1986. Therefore, small numbers of migration, just 20 cases were found. The second period was from 1993 to 1997. In this period, J.League was started, however because the Japanese national team had never qualified for the World Cup, the reputation of Japanese players was not so high. The last period was after 1998. In this period, the Japanese national team could qualify for the France World Cup and Nakata, Hidetoshi succeeded in playing for the Italian club, 'Perugia'. In this period, the numbers of the migrations of the J.League players greatly increased. This study also shows some factors affecting the migration of the J.League players. The factors were divided into psychological factors, skill and adaptation factors, and socioinstitutional factors. Moreover, our findings regarding these factors support McGovern's paper of 2002.

The purpose of this study is to examine parental expectations at the Junior Sports School of the Nagoya Grampus Eight (Grampus Junior Class) and the Junior Sports Clubs (Shonendan). The formation process and structure of the organizations are different in the Grampus Youth and Meiwa Junior-Sports Clubs. From this viewpoint this study pays attention to a comparison of the different organizations. The Grampus Junior Class substructure regards sports schools as a part of enterprise. Also, Grampus has provided a service of high quality for club members to obtain profit. On the other hand, Meiwa Junior Sports Clubs are a voluntary organization. An organization system isn't established and it has been supported by earnest leaders. The data were obtained through questionnaires distributed to 642 parents (336 from Meiwa Junior Sports Clubs, and 306 from Grampus Youth). The main results are as follows: 1) In the case of Grampus Youth, it is an intelligence network of shared territorial bonding. In the case of Meiwa Junior Sports Clubs, the network is based on family relations. 2) Grampus' parents had expectations about the value that is inherent in exercise itself. 3) Compared to the Meiwa Junior Sport Club, Grampus' parents have more expectation of their children's technical improvement in sports. 4) Most parents gave negative responses in regard to expectations of providing a future in sports or study. 5) Parents of the Grampus Junior Class and Meiwa Junior Sports Clubs did not expect the sports schools to provide an external society. 5) Meiwa Junior Sports Clubs want to get understanding from parents by guiding the social development of their children at sports school.