NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 6, 2017 (Economic Times): A group of 42 members of Japanese Parliament on Tuesday launched a Parliamentary League for Promotion of Yoga, a first of its kind institutional mechanism which will promote both the ancient discipline and ties between India and Japan. The league, launched by India’s ambassador to Japan Sujan Chinoy in the presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, will be headed by Hakubun Shimomura, former minister for education, culture, sports, and science and technology, who had attended the World Culture Festival in Delhi in 2016 at the invitation of the spiritual leader.
Chinoy said that the establishment of the league comes at an opportune moment. “India and Japan have a special strategic and global partnership based on our shared values of democracy, rule of law, tolerance and transparency… Yoga is an invaluable patrimony of humankind. It was inscribed in 2016 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” he said. The establishment of the league provides a boost to preparations for the Third International Day of Yoga in June 2017, according to officials of the Indian Embassy in Japan.