FORUM8 celebrated its 30th anniversary on May 23, 2017. "The 30th Anniversary Special Lecture & Celebration" was held at Imperial Hotel Tokyo.

Prior to the lecture, Yuji Ito, President of FORUM8 delivered the opening address. Showing the company history edited at the opportunity of the 30th anniversary, he looked back its progress over 30 years of FORUM8. First of all, he summarized the Company's stance it has been taking since its foundation based on development technologies of software packages. The company expanded its business into software programs that support design covering a wide range of fields from various structures to civil engineering and architecture represented by "UC-1 Series", or technical services. In recent years, with "UC-win/Road" as its core, FORUM8 has been providing a variety of solutions through advanced virtual reality (VR) technologies for many sorts of projects, researches on transportation and automotive fields, and information system development etc. These processes were shown by Mr. Ito in his speech.		■Opening address from Ito Yuji, President of FORUM8
He also mentioned "Up & Coming", FORUM8's PR magazine, which reached vol. 117 by this spring. He introduced the messages in commemoration of the 30th anniversary given by some of the users who had been featured in the past in the section of User Report continuing from the first number of the magazine. Finally, he expressed gratitude to its users as well as determination to aim at a company capable of meeting the expectation of all the clients by growing further.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of FORUM8, Mr. Yasuhiro Yamashita, Vice Chancellor of Tokai University, Vice President of All Japan Judo Federation and Development Director of International Judo Federation gave a special lecture entitled “Challenge for Dream”.

From his infancy when he was a big and problem child, and through junior and high school and college days when he was lucky with his respected teachers of judo, he became gradually absorbed in the idea that it is "Truth of Judo" to make the most of judo in life. Simultaneously, he also formed his style of positive thinking to go toward a great goal without dwelling on the past. In particular, having felt the vivific influence of Shigeyoshi Matsumae, the founder of Tokai Univ., he came to be conscious of contribution to international goodwill and world peace through judo, says Mr. Yamashita. On the other hand, from his memory of the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 1964, he aroused a longing (dream) for having "the national flag of Rising-Sun, the "Hinomaru" and the National Anthem at the Olympic Games (at the award ceremony)" rather than getting a medal of his own. Mentioning his own bitter experiences related with the following Olympic Games and his famous desperate fight with Rashwan from Egypt in the final match of the open-weight category in 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (for which he won a gold medal), he revealed that he fought for his own dream described above with a thought that he would repay an obligation after achieving his dream. Subsequently, from a viewpoint of having a dream, he compared the era of his childhood with the present day. From his own experience as a university teacher, he fully realized "mental fragileness" and "short-temper" of young people and recognized the effect of sports anew. Serving as Japan's Rio Olympic games delegation deputy chairman last year, he is expected to play a more important role in the coming Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. Though he understands the trend of attaching too much importance to medals, he expressed his view that more weight should be attached on the idea of fair play in sports.		■ Special lecture by Mr. Yasuhiro Yamashita, Vice President of All Japan Judo Federation, Development Director of International Judo Federation
In fact, in following the path towards a leader after retirement, he once faced with some incidents in which bad manners of Judo players surfaced. This experience made him feel strongly that higher priority had been placed on just winning and that a viewpoint of fostering human resources might have been much lost. This thought was reflected on the movement of "Judo Renaissance" (with Mr. Yamashita as the Chairman of the committee) that started in 2001. This shed light on the teachings of "Seiryoku-Zenyo (maximum efficient use of energy)" and "Jita-Kyoei (mutual welfare and benefit)" by Jigoro Kano, who he highly respects, to work for fostering human resources. With these efforts, manners of judo players have improved year by year. However, since some people started complaining, "Until when will such activities be continued", these activities were finally closed.

Soon, however, troubles to shake the judo community happened one after another. These induced a situation that children didn’t want to play judo. Then he started a project for exterminating violence under the slogan, "Judo is human education". Later, this activity was taken over to "Judo MIND Project" that attach importance on Manners, Independence, Nobility and Dignity. He says that it was a mental state, “One person cannot do anything alone. However, nothing can be done unless one person rises up” that was cultivated through these processes.
When he took a position of the chairperson of Kanagawa Sports Association in 2006, he produced a set of posters under the slogan “Fair play also in everyday life” in working for "bullying preventio"” in a full swing. He put his faith of making the most of “Truth of Judo” in "life experience = everyday l".

Following the decision in 2013 to hold Tokyo Olympics (in 2020), he devoted entirely to activities of All Japan Judo Federation. Since then, he has been assigning international contribution through judo to himself as his role. Such efforts have brought about outcome such as donation of recycled judo outfits to poor countries in the world, dispatching coaches to foreign countries, and inviting foreign trainers to Japan to allow them to take short training courses. In addition, he has made achievements beyond a political framework, including an attempt to connect judo players from Israel and Palestine, Japan-China friendship and goodwill through judo, and exchange with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia etc.
Finally, positioning these things as the true world exchange and international contribution that judo players can perform, he expressed his convince that these are in line with the teachings of Jigoro Kano and Shigeyoshi Matsumae.

Many Concerned Participants Including Invited Guests from Various Fields Present at the Celebration Party

After the special lecture, the venue was changed to have the celebration party.
Many concerned participants were present at the party. The sponsor's address was followed by guest introduction and congratulatory addresses from academic society, political circles, and related industrial communities, and video messages from foreign countries etc. The party finished in success with a lottery of Thanks Gifts for 30 Year Anniversary of Establishment and so on.

■Introduction of board members and executivers of FORUM8	■Performance by Mr. Shonosuke Okura, Noh Otsuzumi Player of Okura School

	■Video letters from World16 members
■Toast led by Mr. Norio Ogiwara, who is Chairman of the Computer Software Association of Japan (CSAJ), President of Mamezou Holdings, Co., Ltd., and Secretary-General of Japan Federation of IT Associations

■Company History for 30 Anniversary of FORUM8 Foundation

■New Publication "Virtual Reality Impact" Author: Yuji Ito (President and CEO of FORUM8) Date of issue: May 25, 2017 Price: 1,500 yen + tax Publisher: Diamond Business Planning                     (Seller: Diamond Inc.) http://www.forum8.co.jp/forum8/press/press170530.htm ■TV program sponsored by FORUM8 "Get together! VR friends with pakkun & Mayuko Kawakita" Broadcasted by: Tokyo MX1 Main cast: Patrick Harlan, Mayuko Kawakita 12 times from January 6. Rebroadcasted from April 7. (Every Friday 8:00-8:30PM) http://www.forum8.co.jp/forum8/press/press161212.htm ■Thanks Gifts for 30-year anniversary of establishment The lottery was held at the anniversary party on June 13.