History
When the prefecture plan for Saga was published in 1984, it was decided that Kashima City was never going to have a highway or a Shinkansen train connection. Mr. Masahiko Kuwahara, the mayor of Kashima, was also the president of the junior chamber. He created a committee called "Forum Kashima" to improve the city's cultural calendar. As a result, the 1st Kashima Gatalympic event was held on May 3, 1985.
As the Gatalympics became famous, the mudflats that had been neglected before were improved in condition and status. Under a new perspective, the mudflats became an important and valued symbol for the growth of the city as a whole. It was therefore natural that the mudflats became the central reason for which Kashima is now recognized for.
The proposed name for this event translates as "The big athletic meet on the mudflats." Though accurate, it was also a little dry. A second title was proposed: "The Gata-olympic big athletic meet on the mudflats". Finally, whilst heavily under the influence of alcohol, somebody could only utter as much as "Gatalympic" and from then on, that name has stuck like mud.
Read more about this topic: Kashima Gatalympics
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“All things are moral. That soul, which within us is a sentiment, outside of us is a law. We feel its inspiration; out there in history we can see its fatal strength.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)