At the president’s office, Kokushikan University in Tokyo.
Front row, from the left: Nakatsuka, Malíková, Tahara, Corticelli, and Nakagawa
Back row: Kokushikan University executives

The international network of Pierre de Coubertin schools
Promoting closer ties between Japan and Slovakia via the Coubertin School Network

On 11 April 2025, Junko Tahara, IPCC Vice-President and President of Kokushikan University in Tokyo, Japan, welcomed two guests from Slovakia: Elena Malíková, a member of the Development Commission of the European Olympic Academies and former Chair of the Slovak Olympic Academy, and Eva Corticelli, a teacher at the Pierre de Coubertin Gymnasium in Piešťany, Slovakia. With her colleagues at the Coubertin Gymnasium in Piešťany Eva Corticelli organized the 10th Coubertin Youth Forum in 2015. Since then, the two Coubertin schools of Japan and Slovakia have continued to exchange activities and information mainly online.

Mr. Yoshimi Nakatsuka, a former teacher at Otsuka Senior High School of the University of Tsukuba, was an accompanying teacher of the Japanese team at the Youth Forum in 2015, also attended the event and enjoyed a reunion with old friends.

Mr. Makoto Nakagawa, the former Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Slovakia, strongly supported contact with Japanese culture while in Slovakia. He also joined the event at Kokushikan University to continue promoting the cultural exchange between Japan and Slovakia.

After meeting with officials, they toured Kokushikan University’s facilities. They also visited the adjacent Kokushikan Senior High School to further develop the existing exchange programme. They spent a significant amount of time with high school students, experiencing traditional Japanese culture, including calligraphy, kendo, and judo.

They are looking forward to future exchange between the two countries’ Olympic movements.