The IGF, supported by the Japan Go Association, has sent many Go teachers and promoters around the world and popularised the sport of Go. In many countries these Go promoters and professional have helped to organise the local community to form a National Association. A video report by Ms. Shigeno Yuki includes reports of some of her many trips around the world the last three years. The complete lists of countries visited on her Promotion and Instruction Tour 2003-2005 is very long. After the sport is introduced, the IGF works to strengthen the local organisations. Promotion and teaching material has been produced and translated in over a dozen languages and they are used in a great number of countries in Europe and the Americas. To show our global approach, samples of promotion and teaching materials in several languages are available on request.
In recent years the following countries have become members: Nepal (2003), Panama and Mongolia (2004), Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Cyprus (2005), Costa Rica (2006). At the moment we are in contact with several new countries including Greece, Iceland and Kenya.
The IGF continuously tries to find new ways and techniques to increase the popularity of Go. An example is the special attention that is given to increasing the number of women. To this end Pair Go has been created. This is an innovative way to play go in which a male and a female play together as a team.
In Korea, the number of Go players is rising rapidly. A number of Korean youngsters are the top players in the world. They are role models for the Korean youth. In many schools Go (or Baduk as it is known in Korea) is part of the curriculum. The Myongji University in Seoul is the only university in the world where a Go faculty or department has been established, with 120 students at present majoring in Go. In Japan and China Go is also recognised as an instrument contributing to key elements of human life, such as young people�s education, leisure activities, mental care for the aged, promotion of culture. Using the special position of Go in East Asia we give special attention to develop educational material for children in the west together with instructions for their school teachers. The educational paper "Asia and the Game of Go" together with its Teacher's Guide is in available in English, French, Dutch and German.
A special project was the "Hikaru no Go" animation and comic book series that was aimed at introducing the sport of Go into modern youth culture. This series is now being translated from Japanese and published in many countries around the world.
Last updated 2007-06-21