British Embassy Tokyo's MUSUBI Initiative Partners with LFC Foundation to Support Japanese Youth
This is the partnership to expand football-based youth development programmes across Japan.
The British Embassy Tokyo is pleased to announce that its MUSUBI Initiative has become a partner of the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ programme. The ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’s programme is a youth-focused initiative is delivered by the Liverpool FC Foundation (LFC Foundation) with support from The Nippon Foundation.
The ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ programme is already making a significant impact across Japan, harnessing the power of sport and education to support children, young people, and local communities. Through football clinics, leadership development activities, and community engagement sessions developed by the LFC Foundation in the UK, the programme helps prevent social isolation, build confidence, and strengthen community cohesion among young people from diverse backgrounds.
Through this partnership, the MUSUBI Initiative will help amplify the programme’s reach and impact across Japan, while advancing the shared goal of strengthening the UK–Japan relationship through meaningful investment in young people.
Background
The LFC Foundation and The Nippon Foundation have built a strong platform for youth engagement across Japan, focusing on inclusion, confidence-building, and community resilience.
The MUSUBI Initiative - true to its name, meaning ‘to connect’ in Japanese - brings together government, industry, academia, and civil society to foster long-term relationships and empower young people in both the UK and Japan to drive positive change as future leaders.
Quotes
Julia Longbottom, British Ambassador to Japan:
I am delighted that the MUSUBI Initiative is partnering with the LFC Foundation, one of our greatest charitable exports, in support of the Leaders of Tomorrow programme. This is the MUSUBI Initiative’s first programme focused on children, and I am confident that it will provide exciting opportunities for the children who take part.
I look forward to the programme expanding across Japan, drawing on the LFC Foundation’s long-standing experience supporting children facing economic hardship in its home city of Liverpool. Supporting the next generation through UK–Japan collaboration lies at the heart of the MUSUBI Initiative’s mission. It is therefore with the greatest pleasure that I extend my full support to the Leaders of Tomorrow.
Matt Parish, Chief Executive at Liverpool FC Foundation:
We are delighted to join the British Embassy Tokyo’s MUSUBI initiative. Here at the LFC Foundation, partnership work and collaboration is key to the success of our programmes which saw us work with 145,000 participants last season across five countries.
Working closely with the Nippon Foundation, we are extremely excited about the potential of our Leaders of Tomorrow programme to empower young people in Japan and help them become future leaders.
Takehiro Umemura, Director, Planning & Communications Division, The Nippon Foundation
The Leaders of Tomorrow programme, delivered by The Nippon Foundation and the Liverpool FC Foundation, empowers young people through sport—helping them develop independence, teamwork, and the skills needed to become future leaders who will contribute to their communities and greater society. We are honoured that this programme has been selected as the first programme for children under the MUSUBI Initiative, a symbol of the partnership between the UK–Japan. This reflects our shared understanding of how essential it is to invest in the next generation.
By joining the MUSUBI network and community, we look forward to building on the combined expertise and experience of both Japan and the United Kingdom, and to expanding this programme as a model for nurturing future leaders with a global outlook. We sincerely hope that today’s signing ceremony will serve as a new starting point, enabling this programme to expand from Kawasaki City to schools and communities across Japan, and supporting the growth of the ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ who will shape our future.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the MUSUBI Initiative
The MUSUBI Initiative, unveiled at the Osaka–Kansai Expo 2025, is the first public–private partnership project of its kind between the United Kingdom and Japan. Rooted in the Japanese concept of musubi (“to connect”), the initiative aims to bring together government, industry, academia, and civil society to foster long-term, meaningful people-to-people connections. Its mission is to create a future of young leaders in the UK and Japan who drive forward positive change for our nations, through a legacy of connections and shared opportunities for the next generation of leaders in the UK-Japan partnership.
For more information, please visit: www.musubi-initiative.org
About the Liverpool FC Foundation
LFC Foundation is the official charity of Liverpool Football Club, building on the Club’s work in the community over the past 20 years. Working in areas of high need and deprivation across the Liverpool City Region and internationally, we aim to deliver sustainable and long-term change for communities and to ensure that our work continues to benefit future generations.
Our Mission is to tackle social inequalities in our communities and we do this through championing health, learning and enhancing employability opportunities for all. The LFC Foundation has generated more than £170 million in healthcare savings, contributed over £36 million into the local economy, and supported a total of 529,000 people. Last season alone we supported 145,617 people and this vital support included delivering 11,040 sessions and 693 community events across 315 venues, including 206 schools, totalling the equivalent of 68 hours of delivery every day. Over 19,000 people outside of the UK have also benefitted from an LFC Foundation programme, in Tanzania, Ethiopia, United States, Republic of Ireland and soon to be Japan.
Over half of our participants were from the top 20% most deprived areas in the country, reflecting the Foundation’s focus on communities with the greatest need.
Read the LFC Foundation’s 2024-25 impact report in full
For more information, please visit: www.liverpoolfc.com/foundation
Photos
Photos from this event are shared via Flicker account. Link: www.flickr.com/photos/uk-in-japan/