Three senior judo leaders from Hyogo Prefecture will visit Perth from 24–29 September, celebrating decades of judo exchange and opening the door to a deeper formal partnership between Western Australia and Japan.
Western Australian judo will celebrate a remarkable connection between sport, history and international friendship this September, when three of Hyogo Prefecture’s most senior judo teachers travel to Perth for the Legacy Japan–Australia Judo Exchange Visit.
Hosted by the UWA Judo Club from 24–29 September 2026, the six-day visit forms part of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation between Japan and Australia, as well as the 45th anniversary of the sister-state relationship between Hyogo Prefecture and Western Australia. The visit is listed on the Australian Government’s official anniversary events calendar and is recognised by the Consulate-General of Japan in Perth.
For Western Australian judo, however, the occasion represents much more than an anniversary.
It brings together a 35-year history of judo exchange between Western Australia and Japan, the unique connection between WA and the birthplace of judo, and an opportunity to establish a stronger long-term relationship between judo organisations in Hyogo and Western Australia.
Senior judo leaders from Hyogo to visit Perth
The visiting delegation will include:
- Shunsuke Yamasaki Sensei – 8th Dan, President of the Hyogo Prefecture Student Judo Federation, President of the All Japan Budo Federation, former Head Coach of Konan University and a University of Tsukuba alumnus.
- Akitoshi Sogabe Sensei – 7th Dan, Head Coach of Konan University and Vice-President of the Hyogo Prefecture Student Judo Federation.
- Kazumasa Sawada Sensei – 6th Dan, representing Kobe High School and the Hyogo Prefecture High School Judo Federation.
Between them, the three visitors represent some of the university and secondary-school judo pathways that have welcomed and trained Western Australian judoka over many years.
Their visit will include time on the tatami with local judoka, engagement with the University of Western Australia and the Consulate-General of Japan, attendance at the 2026 UniSport Nationals judo competition, and discussions with representatives from the UWA Judo Club, Judo Western Australia and Judo Australia about the future of the relationship.
A connection that goes back to the beginnings of judo
The symbolism of the visit is particularly significant.
Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo and the Kodokan, was born in 1860 at Mikage, now part of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture. He would go on to establish the Kodokan in 1882 and develop the system of judo practised around the world today.
Western Australia, meanwhile, has its own special relationship with Hyogo.
The Hyogo–Western Australia sister-state relationship was established on 23 June 1981, making Hyogo Western Australia’s first and longest-standing sister-state relationship. The partnership has continued through numerous milestones, including a memorandum in 2001, a re-signing in Perth in 2011, the establishment of the Hyogo Friendship Garden and a reaffirming agreement in 2017.
That creates an unusual and powerful connection: Western Australia’s oldest international sister-state partnership is with the Japanese prefecture in which the founder of judo was born.
The 2026 visit also coincides with another major anniversary. Fifty years ago, on 16 June 1976, Australia and Japan signed the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation in Tokyo, providing an important foundation for the modern relationship between the two countries.
Thirty-five years of judo exchange
While the government relationships provide the historical backdrop, the judo connection between Western Australia and Japan has been built on the mat.
The UWA Judo Club was founded in 1988 with around 20 members. Its Japanese exchange activities began in 1991, when the club’s founder and another graduate first travelled to Japan.
More than three decades later, UWA Judo Club has grown to more than 300 members and established an exchange network involving eight Japanese high schools and universities across Tokyo, Aichi and Hyogo, including Konan University, Kokushikan and the University of Tsukuba.
During that time, Japanese delegations of 20 to 40 judoka and staff have visited Western Australia for programmes incorporating dojo training, homestays, school visits and cultural activities, while Western Australian judoka have travelled in the opposite direction.
One of the largest exchanges took place in 2019, when 19 UWA judoka and 10 UWA sport science students travelled to the University of Tsukuba with support through the New Colombo Plan. Long-term exchange coaches from Kokushikan, Sendai and Tsukuba have also spent time based with the club in Perth.
The work has received significant recognition in Japan. UWA Judo Club founder Stockley Davis received a commendation from the Japanese Foreign Minister in 2020, while the club’s Honorary Chairman Arun R. Krishnan was appointed to the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2024.
From personal relationships to a lasting partnership
A central theme of the September visit will be how this history can be transformed into something even more enduring.
Despite 35 years of judo exchange, the existing Hyogo–Western Australia sister-state arrangements do not currently contain a formal judo component. Much of the relationship has instead been developed through personal connections, individual institutions and the UWA Judo Club.
There are precedents elsewhere.
Hyogo Prefecture already includes judo within some of its other international partnerships. Its relationship with Aveyron in France has included the dispatch of judo instructors, while the French national team trained in Himeji ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Hyogo's friendship relationship with Paraná in Brazil has also included joint training with local judo teams.
On Sunday, 27 September, representatives from the UWA Judo Club, Judo Western Australia, Judo Australia and the visiting Hyogo delegation are scheduled to meet to discuss how a more formal judo relationship between Hyogo and Western Australia could develop.
Potential opportunities identified as part of the visit include formally recognising judo within the sister-state relationship, developing student pathways between Western Australian and Hyogo universities, establishing reciprocal instructor exchanges and creating a recurring Hyogo–Western Australia judo fixture alternating between Perth and Kobe.
One particularly promising avenue is HUMAP — Hyogo University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific. UWA is already a member university of the scholarship-supported mobility programme, providing a potential platform for future judo and sport science exchanges between Western Australia and Hyogo.
Building on Judo WA's Western Australia–Japan engagement
The visit also complements the broader international engagement work currently being undertaken by Judo Western Australia.
Judo WA is delivering the Western Australia–Japan Judo Exchange Program 2024–2026, supported through the Western Australian Government's Asian Engagement through Sport program with further support from Lotterywest.
Through initiatives such as these, Judo WA has sought to create more opportunities for Western Australian athletes, coaches and clubs to build meaningful connections with Japanese judo — not simply through short-term training opportunities, but through relationships capable of producing ongoing sporting, educational and cultural exchange.
The arrival of senior representatives from Hyogo provides an important opportunity to connect those efforts with one of Western Australia’s longest-standing international relationships.
A week of judo, friendship and discussion
The program will run from Thursday, 24 September to Tuesday, 29 September.
Yamasaki Sensei and Sawada Sensei are scheduled to arrive on Thursday evening, followed by a Friday program incorporating a courtesy call to the Consulate-General of Japan, engagement with UWA and an evening judo practice and welcome gathering at the UWA Judo Club dojo.
Sogabe Sensei will arrive on Saturday before another afternoon judo practice and club gathering.
On Sunday, the visitors will attend the UniSport Nationals judo competition at UWA, where university judoka from across Australia will compete. That evening will feature the important discussion between the Hyogo delegation, UWA Judo Club, Judo WA and Judo Australia regarding the future of Hyogo–Western Australia judo relations.
A Legacy and Thank You Breakfast will follow on Monday morning before the delegation concludes its Perth program and departs for Japan on Tuesday.
For the visiting teachers, the week will therefore bring together the past, present and future of the relationship — meeting the Western Australian judo community, reconnecting with the university environment through which much of the exchange has developed, and discussing what the next generation of cooperation could look like.
More than an anniversary
The Legacy Japan–Australia Judo Exchange is an opportunity to recognise the people who have quietly built connections between Western Australia and Japan over more than three decades.
It is also an opportunity to consider what comes next.
From Kano Jigoro’s birthplace in Hyogo, to Western Australia’s first sister-state agreement, to decades of athletes travelling between Australian and Japanese dojos, the foundations for a deeper partnership already exist.
As UWA Judo Club founder Stockley Davis explained in announcing the visit:
“These teachers coached our members, hosted our young people in their dojos and sent their own coaches to Perth for thirty-five years… Everything needed for a formal judo relationship between the two is already here — except the document.”
For Judo Western Australia, the September visit represents an exciting opportunity to celebrate that legacy while helping build the next chapter of WA–Japan judo exchange.
The Legacy Japan–Australia Judo Exchange Visit will take place in Perth from 24–29 September 2026, hosted by the UWA Judo Club, with activities involving Judo Western Australia, Judo Australia, the University of Western Australia, Hyogo Prefecture and other Australian and Japanese partners.
