![\"Kansai](\"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/m393_crop169014_1024x576_proportional_14303560861211.jpg\")
Kansai Yacht Club Commodore Ko Watanabe and SoftBank Team Japan General Manager Kazuhiko Sofuku „Fuku“, sign the challenge papers.
Photo: SoftBank Team Japan \/ Yoichi Yabe<\/p><\/div>\n
SoftBank Corp and the Kansai Yacht Club announced they have come to an agreement to challenge for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup. As SoftBank Team Japan, the team will compete in the 2015 America\u2019s Cup World Series events, and challenge for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup in Bermuda.<\/p>\n
The campaign was confirmed today by Kazuhiko Sofuku, \u201cFuku\u201d, a veteran of four previous America\u2019s Cup campaigns who has been appointed as the team\u2019s general manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo lead a Japanese challenge for the America\u2019s Cup is a dream come true,\u201d said Fuku, who last raced with a Japanese team for the Cup 15 years ago as bowman for Nippon Challenge during the 1999\/2000 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great opportunity for Japan and for Japanese sailors to get back into the America\u2019s Cup game,\u201d Fuku explained. \u201cWe are planning to build up our team using America\u2019s Cup World Series events to recruit and train Japanese sailors for our crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
SoftBank Group representative Masayoshi Son said, \u201cI am thrilled to announce that we will be supporting Team Japan at the America\u2019s Cup.\u201d He added, \u201cTaking on this major challenge at the pinnacle of yacht races matches with the SoftBank Group\u2019s aim to be the global No.1. We look forward to cheering on Team Japan along with all of their supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
SoftBank Team Japan is challenging under the banner of the Kansai Yacht Club, among the most distinguished clubs in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an honour for the Kansai Yacht Club to try for the America\u2019s Cup for the first time,\u201d said Commodore Ko Watanabe. \u201cThis is a great challenge to take on, not just for our club, but for the entire country. With support from across the entire nation, I am sure we will represent Japan with pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
A base level of technical assistance from Oracle Team USA will be provided to SoftBank Team Japan as it prepares for the 2015 America\u2019s Cup World Series events.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoftBank Team Japan is a very positive addition to the America\u2019s Cup,\u201d said Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller. \u201cThe Japanese challenge will increase interest in the America\u2019s Cup across Asia which is good news for all of our teams and partners.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By\u00a0Johno Fullerton SoftBank Corp and the Kansai Yacht Club announced they have come to an agreement to challenge for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup. As SoftBank Team Japan, the team will compete in the 2015 America\u2019s Cup World Series events, and challenge for the 2017 America\u2019s Cup in Bermuda. The campaign was confirmed today by Kazuhiko […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20,405],"class_list":["post-2371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-we-are-foiling","tag-americas-cup","tag-softbank-team-japan"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/05\/m390_crop169014_1024x576_proportional_1430351598FD9D.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foilingweek.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}