Photo= The first overseas race of "ISU-1 GP" in Tainan City, Taiwan (April 24, photographed by Tsuyoshi Tahara)

It was decided by June 8 that "ISU-1 GP (Grand Prix)" or an endurance race in which participants seated on office chairs compete along a course set in a shopping area or other location, will be held on June 25 in Suzhou, China. The race originated in Kyotanabe City, Kyoto Prefecture. This is the second time for the race to be held outside Japan, following Tainan City, Taiwan, on April 24.

ISU-1 has been held at the Kirara shopping arcade in Kawara, Kyotanabe City, every March since 2010, and has spread to 12 prefectures in Japan. In its first overseas race held in Tainan City, about 100 teams participated and more than 10,000 spectators gathered.

The race in Suzhou, China, will be hosted by a Taiwanese department store as its first anniversary project. A 150-meter loop course will be set up in a square in front of the store. According to Tsuyoshi Tahara, chairman of the shopkeepers' association of the Kirara shopping arcade and a member of the executive committee of ISU-1, an executive officer of the department store, who learned that the race took place in Tainan, sent him an email in mid-May, saying, "We would like to hold the race in Suzhou, too." Tahara visited China in early June to explain race management methods. Recruitment of race participants has already begun.

Director Tahara said expectantly, "It's my hope that ISU-1 will spread around the world and children in Kyotanabe can take pride in that."