The WorldSkills flag is welcomed in Kanazawa, Japan, on 1 August. Japan is the penultimate country of the international stage of the Flag Relay. The Russian phase of the relay will kick off in Yuzhnosakhalinsk very shortly.
The event was held at the Youth Monozukuri Skills Competition 2018. These competitions first took place in 2005 with an aim to broaden horizons of young skilled professionals under 20 who are currently studying skills in vocational schools, colleges and other institutes.
Present at the Ceremony was Dr Michael K K Fung, Vice Chair of the Competitions Committee, WorldSkills International, К. Hideki Makihara, Senior Vice Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, Mr. Nobuyoshi Fujita, General Director, Labor and Bureau, Aichi Prefecture, Mr. Toshihide Tanabe, President of Japan Vocational Ability Development Association, Mr.Hiroaki Tabata, Vice Minister, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Ms. Ayaka Ikezawa, TV entertainer, a member of WorldSkills Competition 2023 Bid Committee, and Ms.Hanako Inoue, Board member, Japan Landscape Architecture Union Association, a member of WorldSkills Competition 2023 Bid Committee.
Patches of the previous WorldSkills Competitions in Japan were added to the flag: Tokyo 1970, Osaka 1985, and Shizuoka 2007.
The Flag Relay started last year when the WorldSkills Flag was handed to Kazan, the next WorldSkills host city, on 20 October during the Closing Ceremony of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. The flag arrived in Sochi, Russia the next day. It was then launched into space and kept on board the International Space Station for more than two months, before returning at the end of February. Since March 12 the WorldSkills flag has been travelling around the world, as it continues its journey across the 20 countries that have hosted the WorldSkills Competition previously.
After the international phase of the relay is complete the flag will travel across Russia, and the Republic of Tatarstan before being delivered to Kazan during the Opening Ceremony of WorldSkills Kazan 2019.
Press Office of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Competition Organizer
