53% of Japanese Children Don't Know What to Do if They Fall in Water: 'Uitemate' Project Launches Music Video to Save Lives from Drowning

General Incorporated Association Power Stroke (Headquarters: Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture; Representative: Kumi Omori), a subsidiary of Okazaki Tatsuki Swimming Club Co., Ltd., has launched a music video (MV) production project to popularize actions that save lives from drowning accidents. This follows survey results showing that 53%—more than half of the children nationwide—do not know the water emergency coping method known as "Uitemate" (float and wait).

Crowdfunding URL: https://readyfor.jp/projects/uitemate

Starting May 26, the organization is conducting a crowdfunding campaign to raise production costs, aiming for a nationwide rollout before the summer.

Background

Water accidents involving children continue to occur. In cases of accidents in rivers and oceans in particular, it often takes time to locate the victim, which can lead to severe consequences.

"Uitemate" (float and wait), considered highly effective during water emergencies, is known as a fundamental survival method where individuals float on their backs to conserve energy while waiting for rescue. However, a survey conducted by the club and Power Stroke through a research firm revealed that 53% of elementary school students nationwide do not know this coping method.

Furthermore, despite the reality that actual water accidents often occur while victims are fully clothed, many children have never experienced "swimming in clothes" or are entirely unaware that such training exists.

The Issue: Disconnected "Crisis Response" Between Parents and Children

The survey, which targeted households with elementary school children, highlighted a structural issue where correct actions during water emergencies are not shared between both children and their parents.

◼︎ Realities Revealed by the Survey

Children do not know the appropriate coping behaviors, and parents, even when aware of the dangers, end up choosing high-risk actions. The survey clearly demonstrates the need to educate both parents and children on correct water safety methods.

◼︎ Issues in Educational Structure: "Being Able to Swim Doesn't Mean Being Saved"

Originally, the introduction of swimming classes in schools aimed to protect children from water accidents. However, during the popularization of school swimming, current lessons have become heavily based on the crawl stroke, with the main goal of "learning to swim." Instruction is predominantly evaluated by distance and time, assuming the use of swimsuits and a controlled pool environment. Of course, swimming offers numerous positive physical effects as a sport and is excellent for nurturing a rich mind through "water play." Furthermore, learning to swim is defined by the United Nations as one of the methods to prevent drowning, meaning improving swimming ability is not entirely unrelated to accident prevention (United Nations, World Drowning Prevention Day). On the other hand, real-life water accident scenes require the acquisition of floating and waiting behaviors, coping while fully clothed, and the judgment to wait for rescue rather than attempting to swim to safety under one's own power. These are not adequately covered in the current curriculum.
For example, in the Netherlands, which approaches water safety training on a national level, a nationwide program called SWIM ABC teaches back floating and head-up swimming (swimming without putting the face in the water) rather than the crawl stroke from the very beginning. This is a swimming curriculum specifically tailored for water emergencies.

In Japan, which emphasizes the crawl stroke and completing a 25-meter swim, there is a high probability of creating a situation where "even if you can swim, you cannot be saved."

◼︎ The Reality of School Swimming: Children Moving Away from Pools

Following the inclusion of swimming in the curriculum guidelines set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, school pools were consecutively built at public elementary and junior high schools nationwide. However, this number is now significantly decreasing. According to the "Report on the Current Status of Physical Education and Sports Facilities in Japan" announced by the Japan Sports Agency (May 2023), the installation rate of outdoor pools at public elementary schools was 94% and 73% for junior high schools in 2018. However, by 2021, these figures had visibly dropped to 87% for elementary schools and 65% for junior high schools.

As the school pools built simultaneously across the country in the 1960s reach their reconstruction period all at once, the associated construction costs are massive. To begin with, many of the teachers who have conducted swimming classes lack experience in swimming instruction, which has unfortunately led to tragic accidents in the past. Due in part to a lack of adequate environments and human resources to prevent accidents, a growing number of schools are deciding not to rebuild their pools, taking into consideration maintenance and construction costs as well as the burden on teachers conducting the classes.

Even after school pools are closed, some regions manage to maintain swimming classes by outsourcing them to private swimming schools. However, due to the declining birthrate and the fact that private swimming schools are also reaching their reconstruction periods, some areas find themselves without any suitable local swimming schools to contract.

As a result, opportunities for children to experience swimming classes are decreasing year by year