Sanyo Bussan International Lifesaving Cup (Sanyo Cup), sponsored by Sanyo Bussan Co., Ltd. is the only international Lifesaving competition held in Japan since 2006. The objective of this event is to strengthen the Japanese National team and we have been inviting and competing in a very intensive race with high-level Lifesaving superpower Nations such as Australia, New Zealand and countries including, USA, Great Britain, South Africa, and Teams from Asian regions. The Sanyo Cup will be its 12^th time this year and we are welcoming the National team from Spain for the first time, who had a close race with Japan at the previous Lifesaving World Championships.

The Japan National Team had finished 8^th place at the World Lifesaving Championships in 2018. After the competition, Team Japan has enhanced their training program with a New Head Coach Masato Ueki and is ready to compete at the Sanyo Cup. Winning is important for the competitors, but they are also lifesavers at the same time and their main goal is to train hard to save lives. Developing a good National team program will raise skilled lifesavers and it will lead to a world free from drowning. From the sport perspective, we must be able to compete at the world top level and Japan Lifesaving Association is making a long-term plan to increase the population of youth age groups, developing coach training programs and enriching national competitions.

We are planning to have have the Ocean M Lifesaver Relay which will be held the first time in an international lifesaving event. This will draw massive attention from around the world.