While the karate competition of the 2026 Asian Games unfolded in Aichi-Nagoya, part of the sport's future was being discussed away from the tatami. World Karate Federation (WKF) President Antonio Espinós met Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC), in a meeting the WKF reported on 27 September 2026. Around the same table sat WKF General Secretary Toshihisa Nagura and Yoshihiro Sasakawa, President of the Japan Karate Federation (JKF), so that the international federation, Japan's Olympic leadership and the national governing body of karate were all present at once.
Four figures, one conversation
The official photograph released by the WKF shows the four of them side by side: Sasakawa on the left, then Nagura, Hashimoto and Espinós. It is a simple image, but it captures a line of authority that runs from the dojo to the Olympic movement. Nagura, the Japanese official at the heart of the WKF's administration, links the world body to its home country. Sasakawa leads the federation responsible for karate in Japan. Hashimoto leads the committee that speaks for Japanese sport within the Olympic family.
According to the WKF, the discussions "highlighted the values of Karate and its unique place in Japan, the birthplace of the sport." That phrase carries particular weight in a year when Japan is hosting the Asian Games. For a sport whose kata still carry the names and lineages of Japanese and Okinawan masters, the country of origin remains a reference point that no other nation can replace.
Japan, cradle and host
The meeting, the WKF added, "also provided an opportunity to look ahead to major Karate events to be held in Japan, including the Karate World Cup 2028, as well as to discuss the sport's Olympic prospects."
The Karate World Cup is the WKF's team championship. Under the federation's current structure, its senior world championships are split into two major events held in alternate editions: the Team Championships, known as the Karate World Cup, and the Individual Championships, the World Championships. The WKF describes the World Cup as the premier global event for national team competition. The 2024 edition took place in Pamplona, and the next one is scheduled for Hangzhou, China, on 20 to 22 November 2026. Beyond linking Japan to the 2028 edition, the WKF has not published a host city, dates or venue, and the federation's world championships calendar does not yet list it.
Espinós placed that prospect firmly within a broader view of Japan's role. His words, released by the WKF, were direct:
"I would like to thank Mrs Hashimoto for taking the time to meet the Karate delegation here in Aichi-Nagoya and for hosting an exceptional edition of the Asian Games. Karate has always been and will always be a Japanese sport, and we are pleased to note that we have the support of the Japanese officials. Japan's role in the development of Karate remains central, both as the sport's birthplace and as a key host of major international competitions. The upcoming Karate World Cup 2028 will provide another important opportunity to showcase the sport at the highest level in its country of origin. I am sure that, under the new leadership of President Sasakawa, we will go back to hosting international Karate events in Japan with the support of Mrs Hashimoto."
Two ideas stand out. The first is identity: karate described not simply as a sport that began in Japan but as one that "will always be" Japanese, even as it is practised worldwide. The second is a return. By speaking of going "back to hosting international Karate events in Japan", Espinós made clear that he sees the country's place on the international calendar as something to be restored, and he tied that ambition explicitly to the new leadership of the JKF under Sasakawa and to the backing of the JOC.
A dialogue that has been building
The meeting in Aichi-Nagoya was not the first between these partners this year. In July 2026, the WKF reported that a karate delegation headed by Nagura, with Yoshihiro Sasakawa and Hiroyoshi Sasakawa of the Parliamentary Karate Support League, had met Hashimoto in Tokyo. Those talks covered the International Olympic Committee's Fit for the Future strategy, the road to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games and karate's efforts to return to the Olympic programme. On that occasion Nagura spoke of the new JKF President's "broad and forward-looking vision" and of his hope to see more WKF official competitions hosted in Japan.
Seen in that light, Aichi-Nagoya reads as a continuation, with a counterpart who knows the Olympic world from every side. Hashimoto, a seven-time Olympian, became the first woman to lead the JOC when she took office in June 2025, and she previously presided over the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Games at which karate made its Olympic debut.
Nothing announced in Aichi-Nagoya amounts to an Olympic decision, and the WKF did not suggest otherwise. What it described was a shared intention, stated at the highest level of Japanese sport, to keep karate close to the centre of the country's sporting life.
Looking beyond the Asian Games
Espinós closed with a second remark that framed the day in diplomatic terms:
"I am pleased to note that this meeting in Aichi-Nagoya further strengthened the dialogue between the WKF and Japan's Olympic and Karate leadership as the sport continues to pursue new opportunities on the international stage."
For athletes on the tatami in Aichi-Nagoya, the immediate concern was medals. For the officials in the room, it was continuity: a new JKF leadership that Espinós expects to reopen Japan to international events, an Olympic committee president whom WKF officials met in Tokyo in July and again in Aichi-Nagoya, and a world body that looks forward to staging its flagship team event in the country where the sport was born. The details of the Karate World Cup 2028 remain to be announced. The direction, for now, is clear enough.
Sources
- WKF, "WKF President Antonio Espinós Meets Japan Olympic Committee President Seiko Hashimoto in Aichi-Nagoya" (27 September 2026): https://www.wkf.net/news-center/article/!/3311/wkf-president-antonio-espinos-meets-japan-olympic-committee-president-seiko-hashimoto-in-aichi-nagoya
- WKF, "Karate Officials Meet Japanese Olympic Committee President to Discuss the Sport's Olympic Future" (7 July 2026): https://www.wkf.net/news-center/article/!/3236/karate-officials-meet-japanese-olympic-committee-president-to-discuss-the-sports-olympic-future
- WKF, World Championships: https://www.wkf.net/world-championships
- WKF, 2026 Karate World Cup: https://www.wkf.net/world-championships/championship/!/445/2026-karate-world-cup
- Japanese Olympic Committee, President's profile: https://joc.or.jp/about/organisation/president/
- Olympic Council of Asia, "Hashimoto becomes first woman to lead Japanese Olympic Committee": https://oca.asia/news/6401-hashimoto-becomes-first-woman-to-lead-japanese-olympic-committee.html
Photo: wkf.net
