The Yomiuri Shimbun Japanese middle school students have more stamina than their counterparts in other Asian nations, which is believed to be a result of sports club activities and physical education at schools, according to a survey.

The findings by researchers including Juntendo University Associate Prof. Koya Suzuki, are to be formally announced at a meeting of the Japanese Association of Exercise Epidemiology on Saturday and Sunday.

The survey was conducted on 11,699 boys and girls from 12 to 15 years old using the same method in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok.

In the survey, a shuttle run was used to measure their endurance.

The shuttle run is a running test in which a test taker runs between two points 15 meters apart upon hearing a signal. As time passes, the interval between signals decreases, and the runner continues until they can no longer keep up. One-minute sit-up capabilities, grasping power tests, limberness and body fat ratios were also surveyed.

The survey showed that both male and female students in Tokyo in the age range given ranked top in the stamina test.

In the test, 14-year-old Japanese boys were able to shuttle an average of 80.55 times between the two points, followed by Singaporean boys of the same age at 56.36 times. Fourteen-year-old Japanese girls also showed outstanding results with an average of 47.96 times.

Tokyo’s 14-years-olds of both sexes also performed the highest number of sit-ups, but they had standard levels in the other tests.

Their body fat ratio was the lowest among the students in the eight cities.

Japanese 14-year-olds spend the most time exercising each day among the groups studied, according to the survey’s questionnaire results. This is said to show that the amount of activity at schools, as well as their low fat ratio, resulted in their high stamina, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, the polarization between high and low stamina is conspicuous among Japanese students.

There have been little internationally comparable data about physical strength.

Responding to a request by Prof. Stanley Hui of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, who called for compilation of this data, researchers of the eight cities embarked on the survey.

“There is a gap between Japan and other countries about schools’ efforts on physical education. Japanese schools provide excellent physical education,” said Tokyo Gakugei University emeritus professor Yoshiro Hatano, an expert on health and sports science. “In Japan, students who play sports at club activities showed good performances in the tests.”Speech